File:View_of_the_southern_spiral_NGC_300.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Constellation
- Sculptor
- Right ascension
- 00 54 53.48
- Declination
- −37 ° 41 ′ 03.8 ″
- Heliocentric radial velocity
- 144 ± 1 km/ s
- Distance
- 6.07 ± 0.23 Mly (1.86 ± 0.07 Mpc )
- Type
- SA(s)d
- Mass
- (2.9 ± 0.2) × 10 M ☉
- Size
- 55,200 ly (16.92 kpc ) (estimated)
- Apparent size v
- 21.9′ × 15.5′
via Wikipedia infobox
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Encyclopedic overview
NGC 300 (also known as Caldwell 70 or the Sculptor Pinwheel Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. It was discovered on 5 August 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop. It is one of the closest galaxies to the Local Group, and it most likely lies between the latter and the Sculptor Group. It is the brightest of the five main spirals in the direction of the Sculptor Group. It is inclined at an angle of 42° when viewed from Earth and shares many characteristics of the Triangulum Galaxy. It is about 94,000 light-years in diameter, somewhat smaller than the Milky Way, and has an estimated mass of (2.9 ± 0.2) × 10 M☉.
Nearby galaxies and group information
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “NGC 300” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.