Sunday, April 28, 2024

The Cocoon Galaxy (all night)

NGC 4490, also known as the Cocoon Galaxy, is a small, but relatively bright magnitude 9.8 galaxy located 39 arc-minutes northwest of the star Chara
(Beta Canum Venaticorum or ß CVn), the fainter of the Hunting Dogs' two main stars. Center your finder on the bright star and use a low magnification eyepiece to look for the galaxy. Owing to gravitational attraction with a small companion galaxy NGC 4485 just north of its western end, the Cocoon
is tadpole-shaped - with a tapered tail that points away from Chara. A small field star shines at the tadpole's mouth. Smaller telescopes will show NGC 4490's bright core within a wide oval halo that spans 5x2 arc-minutes.
Larger aperture telescopes will better reveal its distorted shape, some internal clumping, and the companion galaxy.

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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* Origin: CJ's Place, Orange City FL > cjsplace.thruhere.net (954:895/61)