The Nearest Groups of Galaxies
This is a map of galaxies that lie within 20 million light years plotted onto the
supergalactic plane. Nearly all of the nearby galaxies lie near this plane (the
supergalactic coordinate system was originally invented because many nearby galaxy
groups lie close to this plane.) All of the brightest and largest galaxies within
20 million light years are marked on this map together with many of the fainter dwarf
galaxies.
The Galaxies of the Maffei Group
Shown below are the three main galaxies of the Maffei group. These galaxies are very
hard to see. Maffei I on the left is a large elliptical galaxy, and Maffei II in the
middle is a spiral galaxy but both galaxies are completely obscured by dust in the
plane of our own galaxy and appear as dim, red smudges. IC 342 on the right is a
spiral galaxy that lies further away from the galactic plane, and is only partially
obscured.
A list of Galaxies within 20 million light years
This is a list of all the brighter and larger galaxies within 20 million light years.
Most of these distances have been determined by Igor Karachentsev and his colleagues at
the Special Astrophysical Observatory in Russia who specialise in studying the
neighbouring galaxy groups. Some of these galaxies still have uncertain distances,
especially the Maffei group galaxies and also some galaxies in the far southern
hemisphere which cannot be seen by Russian telescopes.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Catalog Equatorial Supergalactic Group Blue Type Size Distance
Name Coordinates Coordinates Mag kly Mly
RA Dec L° B°
NGC45 00 13.9 -23 10 271.4 +2.9 11.03 Sc 35 14.2
NGC55 00 15.0 -39 12 256.3 -2.4 Sculptor 8.42 Irr 45 4.9
M31,NGC224 00 42.7 +41 16 336.2 12.5 Local 4.36 Sb 140 2.6
NGC247 00 47.2 -20 46 275.9 -3.7 Sculptor 9.67 Sc 50 8.1
NGC253 00 47.6 -25 18 271.6 -5.0 Sculptor 8.04 Sc 70 8.5
SMC 00 52.7 -72 50 224.2 -14.8 Local 2.70 Irr 15 0.2
NGC300 00 55.0 -37 42 259.8 -9.5 Sculptor 8.72 Sc 45 7.1
NGC404 01 09.5 +35 43 331.9 6.2 11.21 S0 10 10.8
M33,NGC598 01 33.8 +30 39 328.5 -0.1 Local 6.27 Sc 60 2.9
NGC625 01 35.1 -41 26 257.3 -17.7 11.71 Irr 20 13?
NGC784 02 01.3 +28 50 328.8 -6.3 12.23 Sd 30 16.3
Maffei I 02 36.3 +59 39 359.3 1.5 Maffei 14.60 E >20 14.4
Maffei II 02 41.9 +59 36 359.6 0.8 Maffei 20.50 Sb >25 12?
Dwingeloo 1 02 56.9 +58 55 0.0 -1.2 Maffei - Sb >25 16.3
NGC1313 03 18.2 -66 30 228.0 -28.2 9.20 Sc 30 12?
IC342 03 46.9 +68 05 10.6 0.4 Maffei 9.10 Sc 50 8.1
NGC1569 04 30.8 +64 50 11.9 -4.9 Maffei 11.86 Irr 5 5.8
NGC1560 04 32.8 +71 52 16.0 0.8 Maffei 12.16 Sc 35 12.6
LMC 05 23.6 -69 45 215.8 -34.1 Local 0.91 Irr 30 0.2
NGC2366 07 28.9 +69 12 29.5 -4.9 M81 11.43 Irr 25 11.2
NGC2403 07 36.8 +65 36 30.8 -8.3 M81 8.93 Sc 70 10.6
UGC4305,HoII 08 19.1 +70 43 33.3 -2.4 M81 11.10 Irr 25 10.9
NGC2976 09 47.3 +67 55 41.3 -0.8 M81 10.82 Sc 25 14.8
M81,NGC3031 09 55.6 +69 04 41.1 0.6 M81 7.89 Sa 90 12.0
M82,NGC3034 09 55.8 +69 41 40.7 1.1 M81 9.30 Irr 40 12.0
NGC3077 10 03.4 +68 44 41.9 0.8 M81 10.61 Irr 20 12.2
NGC3109 10 03.1 -26 10 137.9 -45.1 Local 10.39 Irr 25 4.1
IC2574 10 28.4 +68 25 43.6 2.3 M81 10.80 Irr 50 12.4
NGC3738 11 35.8 +54 31 59.6 1.8 Canes I 12.13 Irr 10 11.0
NGC4150 12 10.5 +30 24 84.3 -1.3 Canes I 12.44 S0 30 12?
NGC4214 12 15.6 +36 19 79.0 1.6 Canes I 10.24 Irr 35 13.4
NGC4236 12 16.8 +69 28 47.1 11.4 M81 10.05 Sd 70 10.5
NGC4244 12 17.5 +37 48 77.7 2.4 Canes I 10.88 Sc 70 14.7
NGC4395 12 25.9 +33 32 82.3 2.7 Canes I 10.64 Irr 50 13.7
NGC4449 12 28.2 +44 05 72.3 6.2 Canes I 9.99 Irr 20 12.1
NGC4605 12 40.0 +61 37 55.5 12.0 10.89 Sc 30 16.9
M94,NGC4736 12 51.0 +41 07 76.2 9.5 Canes I 8.99 Sa 60 17.0
NGC4945 13 05.4 -49 28 165.2 -10.2 NGC5128 9.30 Sc 90 15?
NGC5023 13 12.2 +44 02 74.0 13.9 Canes I 12.85 Sc 30 17.6
NGC5102 13 21.9 -36 38 153.4 -4.1 NGC5128 10.35 S0 30 12.1
NGC5128 13 25.4 -43 01 159.8 -5.2 NGC5128 7.84 S0 90 12.4
NGC5204 13 29.6 +58 26 59.4 17.8 11.73 Irr 20 14.7
M83,NGC5236 13 37.0 -29 52 147.9 1.0 NGC5128 8.20 Sc 60 15.2
NGC5253 13 39.9 -31 38 149.8 1.0 NGC5128 10.87 Irr 15 11.7
Circinus 14 13.2 -65 20 183.1 -6.4 12.10 Sb 25 12?
ESO274-01 15 14.2 -46 49 171.6 10.3 NGC5128 11.70 Sc 55 16?
IC4662 17 47.1 -64 38 199.2 8.6 11.74 Irr 5 6.5
NGC6503 17 49.5 +70 08 33.1 34.6 10.91 Sc 35 17.0
NGC7793 23 57.9 -32 35 261.3 3.1 Sculptor 9.63 Sc 30 10.7
Column 1: Name of the galaxy.
Column 2: The Right Ascension in hours and minutes for epoch 2000.
Column 3: The declination in degrees and minutes for epoch 2000.
Column 4: Supergalactic longitude.
Column 5: Supergalactic latitude.
Column 6: The group the galaxy belongs to.
Column 7: The blue apparent magnitude of the galaxy.
Column 8: The galaxy type. E=Elliptical; S0=Lenticular; Sa,Sb,Sc,Sd=Spiral; Irr=Irregular.
Column 9: Approximate diameter of the galaxy in thousands of light years.
Column 10: The distance to the galaxy in millions of light years from one of the references
below. The error on these distances can be as large as ±20%.
References:
Davidge T, van den Bergh S, (2001), The Detection of Bright Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars
in the Nearby Elliptical Galaxy Maffei 1. Astrophys J 553, L133.
Tonry J, Dressler A, Blakeslee J, Ajhar E, Fletcher A, Luppino G, Metzger M, Moore C,
(2001), The SBF Survey of Galaxy Distances. IV. SBF Magnitudes, Colors, and
Distances. Astrophys J, 546, 681.
Ferrarese L, et al, (2000), The HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale XXVI.
The Calibration of Population II Secondary Distance Indicators and the Value of
the Hubble Constant. Astrophys J, 529, 745.
Drozdovsky I., Karachentsev I., (2000), Photometric distances to six bright resolved
galaxies. Astron Astrophys Supp, 142, 425.
Karachentsev I, Makarov D, Huchtmeier W, (1999), HI properties of nearby galaxies from a
volume-limited sample. Astron Astrophys Supp, 139, 97.
Makarova L, (1999), Multi-colour photometry of nearby dwarf galaxies,
Astron Astrophys Supp, 139, 491.
Karachentsev I, Drozdovsky I, (1998), Distances to five resolved galaxies in the Canes
Venatici cloud, Astron Astrophys Supp, 131, 1.
Makarova L, Karachentsev I, (1998) CCD imaging of twenty nearby isolated irregular
galaxies. Astron Astrophys, Supp, 133, 181.
Jerjen H, Freeman K, Binggeli B, (1998), SBF distances to Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies in
the Sculptor Group. Astron J, 116, 2873.
Karachentsev I, Sharina M, (1997), Distance to the spiral galaxy NGC 6503 situated in
the Local Void. Astron Astrophys, 324, 457.
Makarova L, Karachentsev I, Georgiev, Ts., (1997), Distances to six irregular galaxies
in the Canes Venatici cluster from the brightest stars, Astron Letters, 23, 378.
Schmidt K., Karachentsev I, (1996), Nearby galaxies. IV. The global Hubble parameter and
the dispersion of the Hubble relation. Astron Nachr, 317, 197.
Schmidt K, Priebe A, Boller T, (1993), Nearby Galaxies. Astron Nachr 314, 371.
Heydari-Malayeri M, Melnick J, Martin J, (1990), Star formation in the irregular galaxy
IC 4662. Astron Astrophys, 234, 99.
Above is a black and white photograph of the centre of the
M81 group showing five
of the major galaxies in this group.
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