Seyfert's Sextet

Seyfert's Sextet

A Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of Seyfert's Sextet.
Credit: HST/NASA/ESA.
Observation data (Epoch J2000)
Constellation(s) Serpens
Right ascension 15h 59m 11.9s[1]
Declination +20° 45 31[1]
Brightest member NGC 6027
Number of galaxies 4[1]
Other designations
Serpens Sextet, HCG 79, UGC 10116,
VV 115, VII Zw 631[1]
See also: Galaxy groups, Galaxy clusters, List of galaxy clusters

Seyfert's Sextet is a group of galaxies about 190 million light-years away[2] in the constellation Serpens. The group appears to contain six members, but one of the galaxies is a background object and another "galaxy" is actually a separated part of one of the other galaxies. The gravitational interaction among these galaxies should continue for hundreds of millions of years. Ultimately, the galaxies will merge to form a single giant elliptical galaxy.

Discovery

The group was discovered by Carl Keenan Seyfert using photographic plates made at the Barnard Observatory of Vanderbilt University. When these results were first published in 1951, this group was the most compact group ever identified.[3]

Members

Members of Seyfert's Sextet
Name Type Distance from Sun
(million ly)
Magnitude
NGC 6027 S0 pec. ~190 +14.7
NGC 6027a Sa pec. ~190 +15.4
NGC 6027b S0 pec. ~190 +15.4
NGC 6027c SB(S)c ~190 +16
NGC 6027d SB(S)bc pec. ~877[4] +15.6
NGC 6027e SB0 pec. ~190 +16.5

See also

External links

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for HCG 79. Retrieved 2006-10-29.
  2. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2002/22/image/a/
  3. C. K. Seyfert (1951). "A Dense Group of Galaxies in Serpens". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 371: 72–75. Bibcode:1951PASP...63...72S. doi:10.1086/126319.
  4. "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 6027d. Retrieved 2013-04-02.

Coordinates: 15h 59m 11.9s, +20° 45′ 31″

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