C17 · galaxy

NGC 147

NGC 147 is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy about 2.58 Mly away in the constellation Cassiopeia.

RA00h 33m 12sDec+48° 30' 31"

Image: NASA Hubble Space Telescope. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Identity & coordinates

Identification

Primary designation: C17
All designations: C17 · NGC 147
Object type: Galaxy
Constellation: Cassiopeia
Best viewing: Autumn · Winter

Coordinates & physical

Right ascension (J2000): 00h 33m 12s
Declination (J2000): +48° 30' 31"
Apparent magnitude (V): —
Distance: —
Redshift (z): -0.000644

III

Visibility tonight

The science

NGC 147 is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy about 2.58 Mly away in the constellation Cassiopeia. NGC 147 is a member of the Local Group of galaxies and a satellite galaxy of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). It forms a physical pair with the nearby galaxy NGC 185,

another remote satellite of M31. It was discovered by John Herschel in September 1829. Visually it is both fainter and slightly larger than NGC 185. This means that NGC 147 is more difficult to see than NGC 185, which is visible in small telescopes. In the Webb Society Deep-Sky Observer's Handbook, the visual appearance of NGC 147 is described as follows:

Large, quite faint, irregularly round; it brightens in the middle to a stellar nucleus.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia · CC-BY-SA-4.0