It is located 4 degrees below the Galactic plane, and, at a distance of 4.0 Mpc (13 Mly), is one of the closest major galaxies to the Milky Way.

[citation needed] Although the Circinus galaxy can be seen using a small telescope, it was not noticed until 1977[5] because it lies close to the plane of the Milky Way and is obscured by galactic dust.

[6] One object is possibly a satellite of the Circinus Galaxy, known as HIZOA J1353-58.

HIZOA J1353-58 was discovered in a survey of neutral hydrogen (H I) and is located within the Zone of Avoidance.

[7] NuSTAR detected a ULX at the edge of this galaxy, a black hole about 100 times the mass of the Sun.