Caldwell 48

Galaxy in Cancer · 62.902 million light-years (est. from redshift)

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Type	Galaxy
Constellation	Cancer
Right ascension	9h 10m 20s
Declination	+7° 02′
Object distance	62.902 million light-years (est. from redshift)
Apparent magnitude	10.2
Apparent size	4.3′ (arc-minutes)
Approx. true diameter	78,678 light-years across
Also known as	C48 · NGC 2775

Caldwell 48 is a galaxy (NGC 2775) in the constellation Cancer — a distant island of stars far beyond the Milky Way. It appears as number 48 in the Caldwell catalogue, Sir Patrick Moore's 1995 list of 109 bright deep-sky objects for amateur astronomers. It spans roughly 4.3 arc-minutes on the sky. At about magnitude 10.2, it shows up in a small backyard telescope.

Although it appears about 4.3′ wide on the sky, its real span is roughly 78,678 light-years — the difference is a measure of how far away it lies.

Observing Caldwell 48

Caldwell 48 lies in the constellation Cancer and is best placed in the evening sky around February. Its maximum altitude above the horizon depends on your latitude. Lying near the celestial equator, it can be seen from both hemispheres. A small backyard telescope will show it; binoculars may hint at it under dark skies. Note that the listed magnitude is spread across the whole object — diffuse galaxies and nebulae are often harder to see than the number alone suggests, so dark, moonless skies help a great deal.

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Sources

Position, magnitude and angular size from the OpenNGC catalogue (Mattia Verga).
Object identity cross-referenced with SIMBAD (CDS, Strasbourg).
Image credits and the original observation source are linked with each photograph.

Related objects

Andromeda Galaxy — galaxy
Triangulum Galaxy — galaxy
Whirlpool Galaxy — galaxy
Sombrero Galaxy — galaxy
Messier 110 — galaxy