I Observed One of the Largest Galaxies in the Universe

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:09][music] Hello and welcome to the program Sula's Big Adventures with me, Sula.

[00:00:14]This episode is about NGC4889, also known as Cwell 35. I'm making this video at the suggestion of one of the viewers, Walker O. Thank you, Walker O, for this suggestion. I have to confess that somehow I don't think I've ever observed this object before. So, let me tell you a little bit about it before we head out to observe it.

[00:00:40]NGC 4889 is a super giant elliptical galaxy found in the constellation Koma Barrenis, Baron's hair. This galaxy is 300 million lighty years away and the most distant object in the Cwell catalog. is part of the Coma cluster of galaxies and the brightest in the northern Ka cluster. It was discovered by the great Sir William Herschel assisted by his sister Caroline Hershel in 1785.

[00:01:12]Probably not discovered by Charles Messier because there are so many galaxies in this area of the sky. He probably stayed away from it even though it's very close to the beautiful black eye galaxy M64 also in Koma Bonesis and discovered by Charles Messier.

[00:01:34]Anyway, when discovered by Sir William Herschel, he described it as a bright nebulous patch.

[00:01:43]There are two extremely interesting things about NGC 4889 and that is that you can see numerous other galaxies in the same field of view with NGC 4889. The closest being 4874 but many others. And the second astounding thing about 4889 is that at the core of it is a super massive black hole with a 21 billion solar mass. For reference, the black hole at the core of our Milky Way galaxy is only 4 million solar masses. So the super massive black hole at the core of 4889 is over 5,200 times more massive. According to NASA, it's the most massive black hole ever discovered. And the galaxy itself is massive with a halo extending out 1 million light years in diameter. It's believed that NGC 4889, like other giant elliptical galaxies, may have formed by the merger of smaller galaxies.

[00:02:51]There's very little dust left in the galaxy to form nebula and most of its stars are old with low elements other than hydrogen and helium. However, interestingly, it contains [snorts] over 15,000 globular clusters. NGC 4889 has an apparent magnitude of 12.9 and apparent size of 2.9 by 1.9 arc minutes.

[00:03:18]The best time to see 4889 is in the spring in the northern hemisphere when it's high in the sky and in autumn in the southern hemisphere, but it might be low on the horizon there. It's located just 2 and 12° west of Beta Kome, but that star is faint. It's only magnitude 4.26.

[00:03:41]To get your bearings, first go about halfway between Arct Turus and Den Nebula, the tail of the lion. And a little bit south of that imaginary line, you should be able to see Vindiatrix, a magnitude 2.8 star in Virgo. And then you can star hop 5° north to Alpha Com, magnitude 4.3, and then hop another 8° north, and you'll come to Beta COM A.

[00:04:08]And then you just go west 2 1/2° to 4889.

[00:04:14]I've read some people say that you need an 8 in telescope to see NGC 4889, but you can see it in a 4 in or 100 mm meter telescope. It'll appear as a faint smudge, but the main criterion for seeing this galaxy in all galaxies is to go to a dark sky site on a moonless night. That's when you'll have your best chance of getting a good look at this galaxy and the accompanying nearby galaxies.

[00:04:47]That's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to try from the backyard. I already know it's too light polluted there and I have no chance. I'm going to a dark sky site. Yes, it's a long drive.

[00:05:00]It's over a 100 miles away and it's a 2 and 1/2 hour drive, but to me it's worth it. I'll take this 102 mm refractor and hersel my 254 mm reflector. I'll see you when I get there.

[00:05:17]Hello again. Today I'm in a Bortal 3 site in California. I'm going to try to look at Callwell 35 NGC 4889 and 102 mm refractor. I'm not sure. I've never tried with anything that small, but we'll see. and also with Hershel, my 254 mm reflector.

[00:05:39]And there are many galaxies nearby.

[00:05:43]We'll see what else we can see. I'll be back when it gets dark to find NGC 4889.

[00:05:57]Find Arct Turus. And about halfway between Arcturus and DBA, the tail of the lion is Alpha Kome.

[00:06:09]And 10° north of Alphacom is Beta K. A fourth magnitude star. And NGC 4889 is just a degree degree and a half west of Beta K.

[00:06:25]Okay. I have NGC 48.889 in here at 48 times magnification.

[00:06:35]Um, just can see a smudge at this low magnification, but I do see it.

[00:06:45]But I'm going to put this two time barlo on here.

[00:06:50]make it almost a hundred times.

[00:06:55]See if I can improve upon that.

[00:07:09]Oh.

[00:07:11]Uhoh.

[00:07:13]I don't think this bar works on here. Oh no.

[00:07:18]Poo.

[00:07:20]It doesn't.

[00:07:23]Shoot.

[00:07:26]It's a little better, but I'm only at [snorts] 71 times with this 10 mm. I didn't realize that barlo wouldn't work. Shoot.

[00:07:37]And this 3 mm is too much magnification.

[00:07:45]Well, I don't think I'm going to be able to improve upon this view.

[00:07:51]That's unfortunate. I guess I need more eye pieces.

[00:07:57]Okay, let's go over to Hersel. Okay, this is interesting. In this telescope at 80 times magnification, I see three possibly four galaxies.

[00:08:11]I don't know which one is 48.889 because my sky and telescope only shows the one galaxy and I don't have a more detailed chart with me.

[00:08:25]But it's pretty neat. Now I'm going to magnify to 120 times and I'm going to sketch it [clears throat] and when I get home I'll try to figure out which one is 48.89.

[00:08:50]Very interesting. Well, it is the galactic center of the Koma cluster of galaxies. Pretty cool. Very cool.

[00:09:01]And for all you sketchers out there, you really need one of these lights on your sketch pad because then you can block it while you're looking in the eyepiece and it doesn't blind you so much.

[00:09:16]Okay, now I'm at 240 times and I have it isolated on Cwell 35 and I can see that it's an elliptical galaxy that is elongated.

[00:09:32]Very, very cool.

[00:09:36]Very cool. Well, thank you, Walker O, for suggesting this incredible object.

[00:09:41]It blew my mind to see it and all those galaxies. Oh my goodness. I felt like I was looking at that famous Hubble photo with so many galaxies in it. And to think I was looking at a super massive 21 billion solar mass black hole to boot. What fun. I sure hope you can make it out to a dark sky park and see this incredible object with your telescope.

[00:10:10]Good luck and good night. Dark skies forever. Sula signing off.