54 ASTRONOMY • JUNE 2018
telescope and look about 20' west for 11th-magnitude
NGC 4251 — a 3'-long barred lenticular galaxy with
a conspicuous bulge and tapered disk. With suffi-
cient imagination, it looks like a tiny UFO.
Swing over to 10 Com and move 1¾ ̊ north, where
you’ll find a pretty pair of elliptical galaxies: 10th-
magnitude NGC 4278 and 12th-magnitude NGC
4283 less than 5' to its northeast. Both objects are
compact targets (3.5' and 1' long, respectively) for
small apertures. Adding to this scene is a 1 ̊-longpompadour of three additional galaxies immediately
to the north: NGC 4314, NGC 4274, and NGC 4245
(from northeast to southwest, respectively).
NGC 4274 is a delightful magnitude 10.4 ringed
spiral resembling the uniform head of a distant
comet (nearly 7' wide) with a bright nucleus. NGC
4245 rivals it in brightness, but appears half its size.
This marvelous barred spiral has a faint circular
halo and a bright inner ring. NGC 4314 is a magni-
tude 11.5 barred spiral and one of the closest exam-
ples (40 million light-years away) of a galaxy with a
star-forming ring of infant stars close to the galaxy’s
core.
We’ll leave the crown after looking for NGC
4203. This beautiful 11th-magnitude lenticular gal-
axy lies only 20' northwest of a magnitude 5.5 star,
which hugs the constellation’s far northern bound-
ary about 3½ ̊ north of NGC 4274. Although small
(3.5' long), NGC 4203 is round and uniform, and its
soft light and bright core is reminiscent of a young
planetary nebula just beginning to shine.Combing the eastern locks
Center Gamma once again in your telescope. Now
make a generous 2 ̊ sweep east-southeast to find
NGC 4559. This easily overlooked 10th-magnitude
object, which is brighter than some Messier galaxies,The faint globular
cluster NGC 5053
(lower left) lies near
the far brighter M53,
making the challenging
cluster relatively easy
to find under dark skies.
BERNHARD HUBL
NGC 4725 is a
splendid example of
a one-armed spiral galaxy.
The arm originates from an
inner ring that is speckled
with star-forming regions.
ADAM BLOCK/MOUNT LEMMON SKYCENTER/
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA