Key facts
- Constellation
- Pavo
- Right ascension
- 19 09 46.1785
- Declination
- −63 ° 51 ′ 26.992 ″
- Heliocentric radial velocity
- 841 ± 2 km/s
- Distance
- 23.63 ± 1.68 Mly (7.244 ± 0.514 Mpc )
- Group or cluster
- Virgo Supercluster
- Type
- SAB(r)bc
- Mass
- 5.92 × 10 M ☉
- Size
- ~171,800 ly (52.68 kpc ) (estimated)
- Apparent size v
- 20.0′ × 12.9′
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- astrophysical X-ray source
- Constellation
- Pavo
- Distance from Earth
- 7
- Image
- Wide Field Imager view of a Milky Way look-alike NGC 6744.jpg
Show 11 more facts
- time of discovery or invention
- 1826-06-30
- galaxy morphological type
- SAB(r)bc
- Commons category
- NGC 6744
- catalog code
- [VDD93] 223
- discoverer or inventor
- James Dunlop
- redshift
- 0.002805
- apparent magnitude
- 5.935
- right ascension
- 287.4420792
- declination
- -63.8575389
- radial velocity
- 833
- epoch
- J2000.0
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
NGC 6744 (also known as Caldwell 101 or the Pavo Galaxy) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Pavo (Peacock). Its velocity with respect to the cosmic microwave background is 802 ± 3 km/s, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of 38.6 ± 2.7 Mly (11.82 ± 0.83 Mpc). However, 21 non redshift measurements give a distance of 23.63 ± 1.68 Mly (7.244 ± 0.514 Mpc). It was discovered on 30 June 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop, observing from Parramatta, Australia. It has a mass of 5.92×10 M☉.
One of the largest spiral galaxies in the local universe, NGC 6744 is considered a Milky Way mimic in the immediate vicinity, displaying remarkable star formation, flocculent (fluffy) arms, and an elongated core. It has at least one distorted companion galaxy (NGC 6744A) superficially similar to one of the Magellanic Clouds.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “NGC 6744” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.