Galaxy
NGC 3521 (NGC3521)
In Leo (Leo) • Magnitude 9.1 • 8.3 arcminutes
Open the free AstroPlanner with NGC 3521 pre-selected, scored against your telescope, location, and the live cloud forecast.
Flocculent spiral galaxy in Leo.
NGC 3521 at a glance
| Catalog IDs | N 3521 |
| Type | Galaxy |
| Constellation | Leo (Leo) |
| Right ascension | 11h 05m 48s |
| Declination | -00° 02' 09" |
| Apparent magnitude | 9.10 |
| Surface brightness | 22.8 mag/arcsec² |
| Angular size | 8.3 × 4.5 arcmin |
| Max altitude at 45°N | 45° |
| Best imaging months | Feb, Mar, Apr, May |
How to image NGC 3521
NGC 3521 sits in the constellation Leo at right ascension 11h 05m 48s and declination -00° 02' 09". To frame and integrate it well, AstroPlanner will compute the optimal moonless window for tonight from your location, the field-of-view fit against your sensor and focal length, the suggested total integration time given your aperture and sky Bortle class, and a cloud-aware schedule that drops it from the plan if your nearest cloud forecast spike overlaps the best altitude window. As a galaxy, NGC 3521 needs the darkest skies you can find: surface brightness, not just apparent magnitude, drives whether it will lift out of the gradient.