Key facts
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Right ascension
- 16 52 58.8708
- Declination
- +02 ° 24 ′ 03.333 ″
- Redshift
- 7287 ± 8 km/ s
- Distance
- 351.9 ± 24.7 Mly (107.90 ± 7.56 Mpc )
- Type
- I0 pec
- Size
- ~242,900 ly (74.48 kpc ) (estimated)
- Apparent size v
- 2.1′ × 1.1′
- Notable features
- merger remnant
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Distance from Earth
- 111.9
- Image
- Hubble Interacting Galaxy NGC 6240 (2008-04-24).jpg
Show 12 more facts
- catalog code
- GB6 B1650+0228
- Commons category
- NGC 6240
- redshift
- 0.024323
- discoverer or inventor
- Édouard Stephan
- time of discovery or invention
- 1871-07-12
- Commons gallery
- NGC 6240
- apparent magnitude
- 11.987
- galaxy morphological type
- I...
- right ascension
- 253.2452542
- declination
- 2.4009861
- radial velocity
- 7203
- epoch
- J2000.0
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
NGC 6240, also known as the Starfish Galaxy, is a nearby ultraluminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) in the constellation Ophiuchus. It was discovered by French astronomer Édouard Stephan on 12 July 1871.
The galaxy is the remnant of a merger between three smaller galaxies. The collision between the three progenitor galaxies has resulted in a single, larger galaxy with three distinct nuclei and a highly disturbed structure, including faint extensions and loops.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “NGC 6240” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.