IC 10 is an irregular galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by Lewis Swift in 1887 and 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 Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a (M51a) or NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. It is 7.22 megaparsecs away and 23.58 kiloparsecs (76,900 ly) in diameter.
NGC 6946, sometimes referred to as the Fireworks Galaxy, is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years or 7.72 megaparsecs, similar to the distance of M101 in the constellation Ursa Major. Both were once considered to be part of the Local Group, but are now known to be among the dozen bright spiral galaxies near the Milky Way but beyond the confines of the Local Group. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.
The Antennae Galaxies are a pair of interacting galaxies in the constellation Corvus. They are currently going through a starburst phase, in which the collision of clouds of gas and dust, with entangled magnetic fields, causes rapid star formation. They were discovered by William Herschel in 1785.
NGC 3109 is a small barred Magellanic type spiral or irregular galaxy around 4.35 Mly away in the direction of the constellation of Hydra. NGC 3109 is believed to be tidally interacting with the dwarf elliptical galaxy Antlia Dwarf. It was discovered by John Herschel on March 24, 1835 while he was in what is now South Africa.
NGC 1569 is a dwarf irregular galaxy in Camelopardalis. The galaxy is relatively nearby and consequently, the Hubble Space Telescope can easily resolve the stars within the galaxy. The distance to the galaxy was previously believed to be only 2.4 Mpc. However, in 2008 scientists studying images from Hubble calculated the galaxy's distance at nearly 11 million light-years away, about 4 million light-years farther than previously thought, meaning it is a member of the IC 342 group of galaxies.
NGC 6822 is a barred irregular galaxy approximately 1.6 million light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Part of the Local Group of galaxies, it was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884, with a six-inch refractor telescope. It is the closest non-satellite galaxy to the Milky Way, but lies just outside its virial radius. It is similar in structure and composition to the Small Magellanic Cloud. It is about 7,000 light-years in diameter.
NGC 1532, also known as Haley's Coronet, is an edge-on barred spiral galaxy located approximately 50 million light-years from the Solar System in the constellation Eridanus. The galaxy was discovered by James Dunlop on 29 October 1826.
IC 342 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis, located relatively close to the Milky Way. Despite its size and actual brightness, its location behind dusty areas near the galactic equator makes it difficult to observe, leading to the nickname "The Hidden Galaxy", though it can readily be detected even with binoculars. If the galaxy were not obscured, it would be visible by naked eye. The dust makes it difficult to determine its precise distance; modern estimates range from about 7 million light-years (Mly) to about 11 Mly. The galaxy was discovered by William Frederick Denning in 1892. It is one of the brightest in the IC 342/Maffei Group, one of the closest galaxy groups to the Local Group. Edwin Hubble first thought it to be in the Local Group, but it was later determined not to be a member.
NGC 772 is an unbarred spiral galaxy approximately 106 million light-years away in the constellation Aries. It was discovered on 29 November 1785 by German-British astronomer William Herschel.
The Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies is a catalog of peculiar galaxies produced by Halton Arp in 1966. A total of 338 galaxies are presented in the atlas, which was originally published in 1966 by the California Institute of Technology. The primary goal of the catalog was to present photographs of examples of the different kinds of peculiar structures found among galaxies.
NGC 4314 is a barred spiral galaxy approximately 53 million light-years away in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices. It is positioned around 3° to the north and slightly west of the star Gamma Comae Berenices and is visible in a small telescope. The galaxy was discovered by German-born astronomer William Herschel on March 13, 1785. It was labelled as peculiar by Allan Sandage in 1961 because of the unusual structure in the center of the bar. NGC 4314 is a member of the Coma I group of galaxies.
NGC 6872, also known as the Condor Galaxy, is a large barred spiral galaxy of type SB(s)b pec in the constellation Pavo. It is 212 million light-years (65 Mpc) from Earth. NGC 6872 is interacting with the lenticular galaxy IC 4970, which is less than one twelfth as large. The galaxy has two elongated arms with a diameter based on ultraviolet light of over 522,000 light-years (160,000 pc), and a D25.5 isophotal diameter of over 717,000 light-years (220,000 pc), making it the largest known spiral galaxy. It was discovered on 27 June 1835 by English astronomer John Herschel.
IC 4970 is an unbarred lenticular galaxy of type SA0^- pec: in the constellation Pavo. It is 212 million light-years (65 Mpc) from Earth and is interacting with the barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872. It was discovered on 21 September 1900 by American astronomer DeLisle Stewart.
NGC 5746 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the eastern part of the constellation of Virgo. It was discovered on 24 February 1786 by German-British astronomer William Herschel. It is the lead member of the NGC 5746 Group of galaxies, itself one of the Virgo III Groups strung out to the east of the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies.
NGC 226 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 216 million light-years from the Sun in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered on December 21, 1786, by William Herschel.
NGC 315 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Pisces. Its velocity with respect to the cosmic microwave background is 4635 ± 22 km/s, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of 223.0 ± 15.7 Mly (68.36 ± 4.80 Mpc). In addition, eight non-redshift measurements give a distance of 208.58 ± 22.28 Mly (63.950 ± 6.830 Mpc). It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on September 11, 1784.
NGC 7072 is an intermediate spiral galaxy located about 210 million light-years away in the constellation of Grus. NGC 7072 was discovered by astronomer John Herschel on September 5, 1834.
NGC 694 is a spiral galaxy approximately 136 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Aries. It was discovered by German astronomer Heinrich Louis d'Arrest on December 2, 1861 with the 11-inch refractor at Copenhagen.
