IC 10
Sign in to saveirregular galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia
Key facts
- Constellation
- Cassiopeia
- Right ascension
- 00 20 17.2917
- Declination
- +59 ° 18 ′ 13.867 ″
- Redshift
- 0.001 161 ± 0.000 003
- Distance
- 2.5 ± 0.5 Mly (750 ± 150 kpc )
- Apparent magnitude v
- 10.4 ± 0.2
- Type
- dIrr IV/BCD
- Size
- 5000 light years (diameter)
- Apparent size v
- 6.8 ′ × 5.9 ′
- Notable features
- mild starburst galaxy
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Distance from Earth
- 0.66
Show 9 more facts
- Commons category
- IC 10
- catalog code
- LEDA 1305
- time of discovery or invention
- 1887-00-00
- galaxy morphological type
- dIrr
- apparent magnitude
- 6.009
- right ascension
- 5.096500
- declination
- 59.292972
- radial velocity
- -348.0
- redshift
- -0.001147
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Article
IC 10 is an irregular galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by American astronomer Lewis Swift on 8 October 1887. In 1935 Nicholas Mayall became the first to suggest that the object is extragalactic. Edwin Hubble suspected it might belong to the Local Group of galaxies, but its status remained uncertain for decades. The radial velocity of IC 10 was measured in 1962, and it was found to be approaching the Milky Way at approximately 350 km/s, strengthening the evidence for its membership in the Local Group. Its membership in the group was finally confirmed in 1996 by direct measurements of its distance based on observations of Cepheids; most estimates place the galaxy 2–3 million light years from Earth, with some estimates ranging from 1.5–4.5 million light years. Despite its closeness, the galaxy is rather difficult to study because it lies near the plane of the Milky Way and is therefore heavily obscured by interstellar matter.
The apparent distance between IC 10 and the Andromeda Galaxy is about the same as the apparent distance between the Andromeda Galaxy and the Triangulum Galaxy, which suggests that IC 10 may belong to the M31 subgroup.