Messier 74 is a large spiral galaxy in the equatorial constellation Pisces. It is about 32 million light-years away from Earth. The galaxy contains two clearly defined spiral arms and is therefore used as an archetypal example of a grand design spiral galaxy. The galaxy's low surface brightness makes it the most difficult Messier object for amateur astronomers to observe. Its relatively large angular size and the galaxy's face-on orientation make it an ideal object for professional astronomers who want to study spiral arm structure and spiral density waves. It is estimated that M74 hosts about 100 billion stars.
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.
NGC 4725 is an intermediate barred spiral galaxy with a prominent ring structure, located in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices near the north galactic pole. It was discovered by German-born astronomer William Herschel on April 6, 1785. The galaxy lies at a distance of approximately 40 megalight-years from the Milky Way.
SN 2005bc was a Type Ia supernova occurring in the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5698, located in the northern constellation of Boötes. SN 2005bc was discovered on 2 April 2005 by LOSS and independently by Tim Puckett and L. Cox. It was positioned at an offset of 4.6″ east and 7.5″ north of the galactic nucleus. The supernova was at magnitude 16.4 at discovery, and quickly rose to a peak magnitude of around 15.3 just over a week after discovery. It showed an expansion velocity of 12,000 km/s. By mid-May, the supernova had faded to 17th magnitude.
NGC 1559 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Reticulum. It is also a Seyfert galaxy. Although it was originally thought to be a member of the Dorado Group, subsequent observations have shown that it is in fact not a member of any galaxy group or cluster and does not have any nearby companions. NGC 1559 has massive spiral arms and strong star formation. It contains a small bar which is oriented nearly east-west and spans 40″. Its bar and disc are the source of very strong radio emissions.
SN 2005cs was a supernova in the spiral galaxy M51, known as the Whirlpool Galaxy. It was a type II-P core-collapse supernova, discovered June 28, 2005 by Wolfgang Kloehr, a German amateur astronomer. The event was positioned at an offset of 15″ west and 78″ south of the galactic nucleus of M51. Based on the data, the explosion was inferred to occur 2.8 days before discovery. It was considered under-luminous for a supernova of its type, releasing an estimated 3×1050 erg in energy.
SN 1994D was a Type Ia supernova event in the outskirts of galaxy NGC 4526. It was offset by 9.0″ west and 7.8″ south of the galaxy center and positioned near a prominent dust lane. It was caused by the explosion of a white dwarf star composed of carbon and oxygen. This event was discovered on March 7, 1994 by R. R. Treffers and associates using the automated 30-inch telescope at Leuschner Observatory. It reached peak visual brightness two weeks later on March 22. Modelling of the light curve indicates the explosion would have been visible around March 3-4. A possible detection of helium in the spectrum was made by W. P. S. Meikle and associates in 1996. A mass of 0.014 to 0.03 M☉ in helium would be needed to produce this feature.
NGC 1309 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 120 million light-years away, appearing in the constellation Eridanus. It is about 75,000 light-years across, and is about 3/4s the width of the Milky Way. Its shape is classified as SA(s)bc, meaning that it has moderately wound spiral arms and no ring. Bright blue areas of star formation can be seen in the spiral arms, while the yellowish central nucleus contains older-population stars. NGC 1309 is one of over 200 members of the Eridanus Group of galaxies.
NGC 4639 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the equatorial constellation of Virgo. It was discovered by German-born astronomer William Herschel on April 12, 1784. John L. E. Dreyer described it as "pretty bright, small, extended, mottled but not resolved, 12th magnitude star 1 arcmin to southeast". This is a relatively nearby galaxy, lying approximately 72 million light-years away from the Milky Way. It is a companion to NGC 4654, and the two appear to have interacted roughly 500 million years ago. NGC 4639 is a member of the Virgo Cluster.
SN 1999ec was a type Ib supernova that was discovered in the interacting galaxy NGC 2207 on October 2, 1999. It was found on images taken with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope at the Lick Observatory. The progenitor is estimated to have had 38 times the mass of the Sun and was 5.34 million years old at the time of the outburst.
SN 2003H was a supernova that appeared halfway between the colliding NGC 2207 and IC 2163 galaxies. It was discovered on January 8, 2003, by the Lick Observatory and Tenagra Supernova Searches (LOTOSS).
SN 1993J is a supernova observed in the galaxy M81. It was discovered on 28 March 1993 by F. Garcia in Spain. At the time, it was the second-brightest type II supernova observed in the twentieth century behind SN 1987A, peaking at a visible apparent magnitude of 10.7 on March 30, with a second peak of 10.86 on April 18.
SN 2004GT was a type Ic supernova that happened in the interacting galaxy NGC 4038 on December 12, 2004. The event occurred in a region of condensed matter in the western spiral arm. The progenitor was not identified from older images of the galaxy, and is either a type WC Wolf-Rayet star with a mass over 40 times that of the Sun, or a star 20 to 40 times as massive as the Sun in a binary star system.
SN 2007uy was a supernova that occurred in the spiral galaxy NGC 2770. It was discovered by Yoji Hirose on December 31, 2007 from Chigasaki city in Japan, approximately four days after the explosion. The position of the supernova was offset 20.6″ east and 15.5″ south of the galaxy's nucleus, near a star-forming region. It was identified as a Type Ib supernova from its spectrum a week before reaching maximum, and appeared the most similar to SN 2004gq.
SN 2008ax was a helium-rich type Ib core-collapse supernova in the interacting galaxy NGC 4490. It was independently discovered on 3 March 2008 by LOSS and 4 March by Koichi Itagaki. The site had been monitored six hours before discovery, thus constraining the time of the explosion breakout. It was the third-brightest supernova of 2008. The brightness in the B-band peaked about 20 days after the explosion. X-ray emissions were detected from the event, which are most likely the result of shock heating from the supernova ejecta and circumstellar material.
NGC 7424 is a barred spiral galaxy located 37.5 million light-years away in the southern constellation Grus. Its size makes it similar to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. It is called a "grand design" galaxy because of its well defined spiral arms. Two supernovae and two ultraluminous X-ray sources have been discovered in NGC 7424.
SN 2005gl was a supernova in the barred-spiral galaxy NGC 266. It was discovered using CCD frames taken October 5, 2005, from the 60 cm automated telescope at the Puckett Observatory in Georgia, US, and reported by Tim Puckett in collaboration with Peter Ceravolo. It was independently identified by Yasuo Sano in Japan. The supernova was located 29.8″ east and 16.7″ north of the galactic core. Based upon its spectrum, this was classified as a Type IIn core-collapse supernova. It has a redshift of z = 0.016, which is the same as the host galaxy.
SN 1998aq is a nearby supernova located in the intermediate spiral galaxy NGC 3982, offset 18″ west and 7″ of the galactic nucleus. It was discovered April 13, 1998 by amateur astronomer Mark Armstrong and was confirmed by fellow British amateur Ron Arbour; both members of the U.K. Supernova/Nova Patrol. The event was not visible on a prior check by Armstrong made April 7. It reached peak brightness on April 27, and 15 days later had declined by 1.14 magnitudes in the B (blue) band.
NGC 3021 is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Leo Minor. It is about 93 million light-years away from Earth, and is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 1,537±4 km/s. This galaxy was discovered December 7, 1785 by Anglo-German astronomer William Herschel. The morphological classification of NGC 3021 is SA(rs)bc, which indicates a spiral galaxy with no central bar (SA), an incomplete inner ring structure (rs), and moderate to loosely wound spiral arms (bc).
NGC 6753 is a massive unbarred spiral galaxy, seen almost exactly face-on, in the southern constellation of Pavo. It was discovered by the English astronomer John Herschel on July 5, 1836. The galaxy is located at a distance of 142 million light years from the Milky Way, and is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 3,140 km/s. It does not display any indications of a recent interaction with another galaxy or cluster.
