Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Sculptor (Scl)  ·  Contains:  IC 1537  ·  NGC 55
NGC 55, Eyal
NGC 55
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NGC 55

NGC 55, Eyal
NGC 55
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 55

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Description

NGC 55, also occasionally referred to as The Whale Galaxy, is a Magellanic type barred spiral galaxy located about 6.5 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor. Along with its neighbor NGC 300, it is one of the closest galaxies to the Local Group, probably lying between the Milky Way and the Sculptor Group.

NGC 55 and the spiral galaxy NGC 300 have traditionally been identified as members of the Sculptor Group, a nearby group of galaxies in the constellation of the same name. However, recent distance measurements indicate that the two galaxies actually lie in the foreground.

It is likely that NGC 55 and NGC 300 form a gravitationally bound pair.

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NGC 55, Eyal