File:NGC_253_-_Sculptor.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
The Sculptor Galaxy is a spiral galaxy located relatively nearby in our cosmic neighborhood, making it one of the galaxies we can study in detail from Earth. Observing spiral galaxies like this one helps astronomers understand how galaxies form, evolve, and behave across the universe.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Constellation
- Sculptor
- Right ascension
- 00 47 33.13
- Declination
- −25 ° 17 ′ 17.1 ″
- Heliocentric radial velocity
- 242 ± 1 km/s
- Distance
- 11.4 ± 0.7 Mly , (3.5 ± 0.2 Mpc )
- Type
- SAB(s)c
- Size
- 36.96 kiloparsecs (120,500 light-years ), (diameter; D 27 isophote )
- Apparent size v
- 27′.5 × 6′.8
via Wikipedia infobox
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Encyclopedic overview
The Sculptor Galaxy (also known as the Silver Coin Galaxy, Silver Dollar Galaxy, NGC 253, or Caldwell 65) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. The Sculptor Galaxy is a starburst galaxy, which means that it is currently undergoing a period of intense star formation.
Observation
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Sculptor Galaxy” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.