Galaxies

A selection of galaxy images on DSS plates

With practice and care, each of these galaxies, except the last, can be observed with a 10 inch telescope.

Catalog IDCommon NameDistance
M 31Andromeda Galaxy2 million ly
M 33Triangulum Galaxy3 million ly
NGC 55  5 million ly
NGC 253  8 million ly
NGC 300  8 million ly
NGC 4945  15 million ly
NGC 5128 Centaurus A15 million ly
M 104 Sombrero Galaxy28 million ly
NGC 2442 Meat Hook Galaxy50 million ly
Virgo Cluster 60 million ly
M 87  60 million ly
Hoag's Object  600 million ly

Hoag's Object

Constellation: Serpens
Distance: 600,000,000 ly
Width: 120,000 ly
Mass:
Not recognised as a galaxy until the 1970s.


Hoag's Object
Contrast enhanced and zoomed

The Deep Sky Survey (DSS) is photographic survey of the whole sky. The project was commenced in the northern hemisphere in the 1950s using the Oschin Schmidt Camera telescope at Mount Palomar Observatory. It was completed in the southern hemisphere the 1970s, by the UK Schmidt at Siding Spring Obsevatory. Initially, the survey was published on sets of photographic plates. In the 1990s, the plates were digitised and placed on line and were also published as a one hundred volume set of CD-ROM discs. Since the initial survey, several other complete surveys have been added to the project.


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Field of view: 1° square
It requires over 40,000 such images to cover the whole sky.

View at full resolution [4.9 MB]

Source: DSS