Subj : Stargazing News - April 16th, 2025
To   : All
From : CJ
Date : Tue Apr 15 2025 06:34:33

Thursday, April 17, 2025 

Overlooked Bright Galaxy NGC 2903 (evening)

It's surprising that Charles Messier omitted NGC 2903 from his list of "non-
comets". This spectacular barred spiral galaxy in Leo shines at a bright 9th
magnitude. Its apparent brightness is boosted by its tilt of only 24 from
edge-on. The un-named galaxy is located in front of the lion's nose, 3.85
degrees SW of the bright star Algenubi (Epsilon Leonis), and just a thumb's
width below (or 1.5 degrees south of) the magnitude 4.3 star Alterf (Lambda
Leonis). Under reasonably dark skies, NGC 2903's concentrated oval core,
aligned NNE-SSW and measuring 2 by 4 arc-minutes, can be seen in an 80-mm
aperture telescope, or larger. Watch for variations in brightness in the halo
due to abundant dusty patches and lanes, particularly on the eastern half.

(Data Courtesy of Starry Night)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Windows/64)
 * Origin: Mystic Hobbies BBS mystic-hobbies.com (954:100/61)

.