Barnard's galaxy
irregular galaxy in the constellation Sagittarius
Key facts
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Right ascension
- 19 44 57.70
- Declination
- −14 ° 48 ′ 12.0 ″
- Redshift
- −57 ± 2 km/s (−35.4 ± 1.2 mi/s )
- Distance
- 1.63 ± 0.03 Mly (500 ± 10 kpc )
- Type
- IB(s)m
- Size
- ~9,200 ly (2.82 kpc ) (estimated)
- Apparent size v
- 15.5 ′ × 13.5 ′
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
NGC 6822 (also known as Barnard's Galaxy, IC 4895, or Caldwell 57) is a barred irregular galaxy approximately 1.6 million light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Part of the Local Group of galaxies, it was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884, with a six-inch refractor telescope. It is the closest non-satellite galaxy to the Milky Way, but lies just outside its virial radius. It is similar in structure and composition to the Small Magellanic Cloud. It is about 7,000 light-years in diameter.
Observational history