Home >> Science & Nature >> Astronomy

Names of Distant Galaxies

Galaxies are vast collections of gas, dust and stars held together by their mutual gravitational forces. Our solar system is part of the Milky Way galaxy. The distance from Earth to the center of our own galaxy is 26,000 light years. Some galaxies are given names inspired by their shape or a distinguishing feature. Others are given names according to a cataloging system. Since galaxies may be mentioned in several catalogs they may have several names.

Sombrero Galaxy
- The Sombrero galaxy resembles the wide brim of a hat.
  
  The awe-inspiring Sombrero galaxy does indeed resemble the wide brim of a hat. It is 28 million light-years from Earth and is found in the Virgo constellation. Its alternative but much less descriptive names are M104 and NGC 4594. Although the Sombrero galaxy cannot be seen with the naked eye, it is quite bright and can easily be examined through a relatively small telescope.
Edge-on Spiral Galaxy
- The Edge-on Spiral galaxy is located in the Ursa Major constellation and is approximately 55 million light-years from Earth. It is also known as NGC 4013 and is 85,000 light years in length.
Andromeda Galaxy
- At about 2.5 million light-years from our planet, the Andromeda galaxy, which holds almost a trillion stars, is the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way. It is named M31 in the Messier Catalog and is also known as NGC 224. It's predicted that millions of years from today the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxies will collide.
Cartwheel Galaxy
- The Cartwheel galaxy is located in the Southern Hemisphere in the constellation Sculptor. It is 500 million light-years from Earth and has a ring that was formed when two galaxies collided.
Whirlpool Galaxy
- One of the first people to create a catalog of objects in the night sky was Charles Messier. He was searching for comets but ended up listing the positions of objects, which later turned out to be galaxies. However, Messier conducted his cataloging in quite a disorganized way. According to Messier's system, the Whirlpool galaxy is known as Messier 51 or M51. Another more organized system for cataloging objects in the night sky is the NGC (New General Catalog), which was published in the late 1800s and is still used today. Under this system the Whirlpool galaxy is known as NGC 5194.The Whirlpool galaxy is a face-on spiral galaxy that is 31 million light-years from Earth.
Warped Galaxy
- The Warped galaxy is also called ESO 510-G13 by the European Southern Observatory catalog. It is a warped, spiral galaxy that is located 150 million light-years away from Earth.

Astronomy