Seyfert's Sextet

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Seyfert's Sextet
Seyfert Sextet full.jpg
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 galaxies4 [1]
Other designations
Serpens Sextet, HCG 79, UGC 10116,
VV 115, VII Zw 631 [1]
See also: Galaxy group, Galaxy cluster, List of galaxy groups and 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, NGC 6027d, is a background object and another "galaxy," NGC 6027e, is actually a part of the tail from galaxy NGC 6027. 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.

Contents

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

Related Research Articles

Stephans Quintet

Stephan's Quintet is a visual grouping of five galaxies of which four form the first compact galaxy group ever discovered. The group, visible in the constellation Pegasus, was discovered by Édouard Stephan in 1877 at the Marseille Observatory. The group is the most studied of all the compact galaxy groups. The brightest member of the visual grouping is NGC 7320, which has extensive H II regions, identified as red blobs, where active star formation is occurring.

NGC 7320 Spiral Galaxy in the constellation Pegasus

NGC 7320 is a spiral galaxy in Stephan's Quintet. However, it is not an actual member of the galaxy group, but a much closer line-of-sight galaxy at a distance of about 40 million light years, the same as the nearby NGC 7331. Other galaxies of Stephan's Quintet are some 300 million light-year distant.

Roberts Quartet

Robert's Quartet is a compact galaxy group approximately 160 million light-years away in the constellation Phoenix. It is a family of four very different galaxies whose proximity to each other has caused the creation of about 200 star-forming regions and pulled out a stream of gas and dust 100,000 light years long. Its members are NGC 87, NGC 88, NGC 89 and NGC 92, discovered by John Herschel on the 30 September 1834.

NGC 7318 Pair of interacting galaxies in the constellation Pegasus

NGC 7318 is a pair of colliding galaxies about 280 million light-years from Earth. They appear in the Constellation Pegasus and are members of the Stephan's Quintet.

NGC 2500 Barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Lynx

NGC 2500 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Lynx which was discovered by William Herschel in 1788. Much like the local group in which our own Milky Way galaxy is situated, NGC 2500 is part of NGC 2841 group of galaxies which also includes NGC 2541, NGC 2537 and NGC 2552. It has a H II nucleus and exhibits a weak inner ring structure.

NGC 6027 Lenticular galaxy in the constellation Serpens

NGC 6027 is a lenticular galaxy that is the brightest member of Seyfert's Sextet, a compact group of galaxies. Édouard Stephan discovered the galaxy in 1882.

NGC 6027a Spiral galaxy in the constellation Serpens

NGC 6027a is a spiral galaxy that is part of Seyfert's Sextet, a compact group of galaxies, which is located in the constellation Serpens. In optical wavelengths, it has a strong resemblance to Messier 104, the Sombrero Galaxy, with which it shares a near equivalent orientation to observers on Earth.

NGC 6027b Lenticular galaxy in the constellation Serpens

NGC 6027b is an interacting lenticular galaxy that is part of Seyfert's Sextet, a compact group of galaxies currently in the process of colliding and merging, which is located in the constellation Serpens.

NGC 6027c Barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Serpens

NGC 6027c is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of Seyfert's Sextet, a compact group of galaxies, which is located in the constellation Serpens.

NGC 6027d Barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Serpens

NGC 6027d is a barred spiral galaxy that is strictly a visual member of Seyfert's Sextet, a compact group of galaxies, which is located in the constellation Serpens. NGC 6027d is not interacting with the other galaxies in the cluster, but is in the background and just happens to be in the same line of sight. The galaxy is nearly 700 million light years away from the interacting group and is believed to be extremely large in size.

NGC 6027e Tidal tail of NGC 6027 in the constellation Serpens

NGC 6027e is a tidal tail of NGC 6027, not an individual galaxy, that is part of Seyfert's Sextet, a compact group of galaxies, which is located in the constellation Serpens.

NGC 7319 Highly distorted spiral galaxy in the constellation Pegasus

NGC 7319 is a highly distorted barred spiral galaxy that is a member of the compact Stephan's Quintet group located in the constellation Pegasus, some 311 megalight-years distant from the Milky Way. The galaxy's arms, dust and gas have been highly disturbed as a result of the interaction with the other members of the Quintet. Nearly all of the neutral hydrogen has been stripped from this galaxy, most likely as a result of a collision with NGC 7320c some 100 million years ago. A pair of long, parallel tidal tails extend southward from NGC 7319 in the direction of NGC 7320c, and is undergoing star formation.

NGC 1058 Galaxy in constellation Perseus

NGC 1058 is a Seyfert Type 2 galaxy in the NGC 1023 Group, located in the Perseus constellation. It is approximately 27.4 million light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 11.82. It is receding from Earth at 518 kilometers per second (322 mi/s), and at 629 kilometers per second (391 mi/s) relative to the Milky Way.

NGC 7331 Group Visual grouping of galaxies in the constellation Pegasus

NGC 7331 Group is a visual grouping of galaxies in the constellation Pegasus. Spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is a foreground galaxy in the same field as the collection, which is also called the Deer Lick Group,. It contains four other members, affectionately referred to as the "fleas”: the lenticular or unbarred spirals NGC 7335 and 7336, the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7337 and the elliptical galaxy NGC 7340. These galaxies lie at distances of approximately 332, 365, 348 and 294 million light years, respectively. Although adjacent on the sky, this collection is not a galaxy group, as NGC 7331 itself is not gravitationally associated with the far more distant “fleas”; indeed, even they are separated by far more than the normal distances of a galaxy group.

NGC 201 Spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus

NGC 201 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Cetus. It is one of the group members of HCG 7, with the other group members NGC 192, NGC 196, and NGC 197. It was discovered on December 28, 1790 by William Herschel.

NGC 1019 Galaxy in the constellation Cetus

NGC 1019 is a barred spiral galaxy approximately 316 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Cetus. It was discovered by French astronomer Édouard Stephan on December 1, 1880 with the 31" reflector at the Marseille Observatory.

NGC 1189 Barred spiral galaxy in Eridanus

NGC 1189 is a barred spiral galaxy approximately 105 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Eridanus. It was discovered by American astronomer Francis Leavenworth on December 2, 1885 with the 26" refractor at Leander McCormick Observatory.

NGC 1191 Lenticular galaxy in Eridanus

NGC 1191 is a lenticular galaxy approximately 406 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Eridanus. It was discovered by American astronomer Francis Leavenworth on December 2, 1885 with the 26" refractor at Leander McCormick Observatory.

NGC 1199 Elliptical galaxy in Eridanus

NGC 1199 is an elliptical galaxy approximately 107 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Eridanus. It was discovered by William Herschel on December 30, 1785.

NGC 1192 Lenticular galaxy in Eridanus

NGC 1192 is a lenticular galaxy approximately 417 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Eridanus. It was discovered by American astronomer Francis Leavenworth on December 2, 1885 with the 26" refractor at Leander McCormick Observatory.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for HCG 79. Retrieved 2006-10-29.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  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 (371): 72–75. Bibcode:1951PASP...63...72S. doi: 10.1086/126319 .
  4. "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 6027d. Retrieved 2013-04-02.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)


Coordinates: Jupiter and moon.png 15h 59m 11.9s, +20° 45′ 31″