NGC 300
| NGC 300 | |
|---|---|
An ultraviolet image of NGC 300 taken by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
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| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Sculptor |
| Right ascension | 00h 54m 53.5s |
| Declination | −37° 41′ 04″ |
| Redshift | 144 ± 1 km/s |
| Distance | 6.07 ± 0.23 Mly (1.86 ± 0.07 Mpc) |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 9.0 |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | SA(s)d |
| Apparent size (V) | 21′.9 × 15′.5 |
| Other designations | |
| PGC 3238Caldwell 70 | |
NGC 300 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. It is one of the closest galaxies to the Local Group, and probably lies between the latter and the Sculptor Group. It is the brightest of the five main spirals in the direction of the Sculptor Group. It is inclined at an angle of 42° when viewed from Earth and shares many characteristics of the Triangulum Galaxy.
NGC 300 and the irregular galaxy NGC 55 have traditionally been identified as members of the Sculptor Group, a nearby group of galaxies in the constellation of the same name. However, recent distance measurements indicate that these two galaxies actually lie in the foreground. It is likely that NGC 300 and NGC 55 form a gravitationally bound pair.
In 1986, Allan Sandage estimated the distance to NGC 300 to be 5.41 Mly (1.66 Mpc). By 1992, this had been updated to 6.9 Mly (2.1 Mpc) by Freedman et al. In 2006, this was revised by Karachentsev et al. to be 7.0±0.3 Mly (2.15±0.10 Mpc). At about the same time, the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) method was used to produce an estimate of 5.9±0.4 Mly (1.82±0.13 Mpc) using edge detection and 6.1±0.4 Mly (1.87±0.12 Mpc) using maximum likelihood. These results were consistent with estimates using near-infrared photometry of Cepheid variables by Gieren et al. 2005 that provided an estimate of 6.1±0.2 Mly (1.88±0.07 Mpc). Combining the recent TCGB and Cepheid estimates the distance to NGC 300 is estimated at 6.07±0.23 Mly (1.86±0.07 Mpc).
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