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Galaxy in the constellation Andromeda

NGC 68

NGC 68
All data from the card 11
Constellation
Andromeda
Right ascension
00h 18m 18.5s
Declination
30° 04′ 18″
Redshift
0.01913
Heliocentric radial velocity
5735
Distance
260,000,000
Group or cluster
NGC 68 group
Apparent magnitude (V)
12.9
Type
E1
Size
90,000 light years
Apparent size (V)
1.288' x 1.202'

NGC 68 is a lenticular galaxy, and the central member of the NGC 68 group, in the constellation Andromeda. The galaxy was discovered on 11 September 1784 by William Herschel, who observed the NGC 68 group as a single object and described it as "extremely faint, large, 3 or 4 stars plus nebulosity". As such, his reported location is between NGC 68, NGC 70, and NGC 71. By the time Dreyer looked at the galaxies to add to the NGC catalog, however, he was able to tell that the single galaxy observed by Herschel was in fact 3 adjacent galaxies, and cataloged them as NGC 68, NGC 70, and NGC 71.

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Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source article