NGC 4945 (Active)
Galaxy in Centaurus
| R.A. | Dec. | Size | Mag | SB | Cnt.St | Type | Distance | Chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13h 05m 29.1s | -49° 28′ 13.9″ | 20.0′ | 9.3 | 13.7 | SB(s)cd | Active | -- | -- |
Source: POSS-2 UK Schmidt Red (STScI) | Field: 30′ × 30′
Background
NGC 4945 is a barred spiral galaxy 13 million light-years away in Centaurus, edge-on to our line of sight. Its bright nucleus harbours a super-massive black hole and shows the spectroscopic signatures of a Seyfert-2 active galactic nucleus, making it one of the closest active galaxies to the Milky Way.
My Observing Notes
25-cm (Meade 10-inch LX200, The Coffee Grinder): A diagonal, cigar-shaped luminous haze lying at a 45° angle. Even brightness across the disk; deeper images reveal dust lanes mottled along the spiral arms but visually it is uniform. Surprisingly large at 20'×4', taking up half the FOV in the 26 mm eyepiece.(Thursday, April 2025)
References
Charts
Ultra-wide view (~25° field)
Wide-field view with Telrad rings (4°, 2°, 0.5°)
Finderscope view (9×50 RACI, ~4.4° TFOV)
Eyepiece view — 35 mm Panoptic on 12-inch f/5 (1.6° TFOV)