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Through a telescope, this galaxy appears oblong with a bright center and faint arms. At magnitude 10.6, it can be seen in even small scopes. It is sometimes called the Little Sombrero because in photographs it looks similar to the Sombrero Galaxy, Messier 104. It is about 40 million light years away. NGC 14, a smaller and dimmer galaxy (magnitude 12.4), is about 1 degree to the east of NGC 7814. |
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Evening visibility: | September-February | ||
Best viewed with: | telescope | ||
Printable chart (pdf) | View larger image | ||
Directions: Start by finding the Great Square of Pegasus, which rises in the eastern sky during the early fall evenings, is high overhead later in the fall, and sinks in the western sky during early winter. To be sure you know how the square is oriented in the sky, look for the two stars outside the northwest corner of the square (circled in the chart below) that form a small triangle with Scheat. |
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Find the bright star Algenib at the southeast corner of the Great Square. NGC 7814 is about 2.5 degrees to the west-northwest. If you use a low power eyepiece with a 1 degree field of view, the galaxy will be about 2 and a half fields away. Once you take a good look at the Little Sombrero, go back about half way toward Algenib and see if you can pick up the dimmer NGC 14. |
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Star charts created with Cartes du Ciel | |||