Here’s an overview of 30 MUST-SEE Deep-Sky Objects (DSO), mainly Galaxies and Galaxy Clusters, in March 2023 with a backyard telescope. For a further explanation and pictures, see the video. Enjoy, and clear skies!
On March 1, NGC3184, also called the Little Pinwheel Galaxy will cross the meridian in Ursa Major at midnight. The apparent size is about 7 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 9.8.
On March 2, NGC3198 will cross the meridian in the constellation Ursa Major at midnight. The apparent size is 8.5 by 3.3 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 10.3.
On March 4, IC2574, also called Coddington’s nebula, will cross the meridian in Ursa Major at midnight. This dwarf galaxy has an apparent size of 13.2 by 5.4 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 10.4.
On March 8, M95, M96 and M105 will cross the meridian in the constellation Leo at midnight. Their apparent sizes vary from about 5 to 8 arcminutes, and they shine at magnitude 9.5.
On March 8, NGC3344, also called the Sliced Union Galaxy, will cross the meridian at midnight in the constellation Leo Minor. The apparent size is about 7.1 by 6.5 arcminutes and it shines at magnitude 9.9.
On March 9, four spiral galaxies named NGC 3395, NGC 3396, NGC 3424, and NGC 3430 will cross the meridian in the constellation Leo Minor at midnight. These four spiral galaxies have an apparent size of about 1 to 4 arcminutes, and a magnitude of 12.
On March 9, NGC3359 will cross the meridian at midnight in Ursa Major. The apparent size of this spiral galaxy is about 7.2 by 4.4 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 10.6.
On March 12, NGC3486 will cross the meridian at midnight in the constellation Leo Minor. The apparent size of this spiral galaxy is about 7.1 by 5.2 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 10.5.
On March 13, NGC3504 will cross the meridian at midnight in the constellation Leo Minor. The apparent size of this spiral galaxy is about 2.7 by 2.1 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 11.1.
On March 14, Abell 1185 with NGC3561 will cross the meridian at midnight in Ursa Major. This galaxy cluster has an apparent size of about 28 arcminutes and shines at magnitude 14.
On March 15, M108, also called the surfboard galaxy, will cross the meridian at midnight in the constellation Ursa Major. The apparent size of this spiral galaxy is about 8.6 by 2.4 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 10.
On March 16, C40 which includes NGC 3626, NGC 3599, NGC 3607, and NGC 3608 will cross the meridian in the constellation Leo at midnight. The apparent sizes of these elliptical galaxies vary from about 2 to 5 arcminutes, and the average magnitude is 11.
On March 16, Abell 1213 will cross the meridian in the constellation Ursa Major at midnight. The size of this galaxy cluster is about 22.4 arcminutes and its magnitude is 14.5.
On March 16, M97, also called the Owl Nebula, will cross the meridian in Ursa Major at midnight. The size of this planetary nebula is 2.8 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 9.9.
On March 17, NGC 3623, NGC 3627, and NGC 3628, also called the Leo Triplet, will cross the meridian in the constellation Leo at midnight. The apparent sizes of these spiral galaxies are about 10 to 13 arcminutes and their average magnitude is 9.
On March 18, NGC 3642 and NGC3690 will cross the meridian in Ursa Major at midnight. The apparent sizes of both spiral galaxies are about 5 arcminutes, and they shine at magnitude 11.2.
On March 20, Abell 1314 will cross the meridian at midnight in the constellation Ursa Major. The size of this galaxy cluster is about 28 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 13.9.
On March 21, NGC3733 will cross the meridian in Ursa Major at midnight. This spiral galaxy is accompanied by 18 extremely distant quasars, that are billions of lightyears away! The size of the galaxy is about 5 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 12.4.
On March 23, Abell 1367 will cross the meridian in the constellation Leo at midnight. The size of this large galaxy cluster is about 1 degree and 42 arcminutes, about 3x the size of the Moon, and it shines at magnitude 13.9.
On March 25, NGC3398 will cross the meridian at midnight in Ursa Major. The size of this spiral galaxy is 5.4 by 4.9 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 10.4.
On March 25, NGC3349 will cross the meridian in Ursa Major at midnight. The size of the galaxy is 2.9 by 1.7 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 11.1.
On March 25, Abell 1377, including NGC 3898, NGC 3913, and NGC 3950 will cross the meridian in Ursa Major at midnight. The size of this galaxy cluster is about 1 degree and 20 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 15.
On March 26, Abell 1413 will cross the meridian at midnight in Leo. This galaxy cluster is a whopping 2 billion lightyears away! Its size is about 5 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 17.1
On March 27, M109, also called the vacuum cleaner galaxy, will cross the meridian in Ursa Major at midnight. The size of this spiral galaxy is 7.5 by 4.4 arcminutes, and it shines at magnitude 9.8.
On March 29, NGC 4147, also called the “Kick the can cluster”, will cross the meridian in the constellation Coma Berenices at midnight. The size of this globular cluster is about 4.4 arcminutes and it shines at magnitude 10.4.
On March 29, two spiral galaxies called NGC 4145 and NGC 4151 will cross the meridian in the constellation Canes Venatici at midnight. The sizes of both galaxies are 5.9 by 4.1 and 6.3 by 4.5 arcminutes, and the shine at magnitude 11.
On March 30, a combination of star clusters and galaxies called “The box” will pass the meridian in the constellation Coma Berenices at midnight. The box includes four galaxies in the foreground named NGC 4169, NGC 4170, NGC 4174, NGC 4175, and Abell 1495 which is a whopping 2 billion light-years from Earth! The size of the whole cluster is about 30 arcminutes with Abell 1495 being about 4 arcminutes at an average magnitude of 11.
On March 31, a spiral galaxy called M98 will cross the meridian at midnight in the constellation Coma Berenices. The size of this galaxy is 9.8 x 2.8 arcminutes and its magnitude is 10.1. Finally, on March 31, NGC4236 will cross the meridian at midnight in the constellation Draco. This spiral galaxy has an apparent size of 22.6 by 6.9 arcseconds and shines at magnitude 9.6.
2 Replies to “30 MUST-SEE Galaxies in March 2023 with a Telescope! | Deep-Sky Objects (DSO)”