NGC 2217 — S0-a in Canis Major
S0-a in Canis Major, 4.6 arcminutes across, its light 78 million years old. Measured by HyperLEDA, photographed by Pan-STARRS1. Recorded once.
About NGC 2217
What you are looking at
NGC 2217 is a lenticular galaxy: a disc galaxy that has largely used up the gas it needs to form new stars, so its disc is smooth and has no spiral arms. It faces us almost squarely, which shows its full structure at once. From edge to edge its visible disc spans about 105,000 light-years, close to the width of the Milky Way.
What astronomers have recorded
SIMBAD, the reference database astronomers use, classes it as a Seyfert galaxy: its nucleus is lit by gas falling into its central black hole, though dust hides part of that glow from us. One supernova has been recorded in it: SN 2017fzw. It is cited in 174 scientific papers indexed by SIMBAD, and recorded there under 19 different catalogue designations.
When this light set out
Its light has been travelling for about 78 million years. When it left, dinosaurs were at their peak. The galaxy is moving away from us at about 1,618 km/s (3.6 million mph), carried by the expansion of the universe.
Finding it in the sky
In the sky, NGC 2217 sits within the constellation Canis Major. It is best placed on winter evenings: around 9:30 pm in February it stands about 23° high in the south, seen from the middle of the United States.
By apparent size it is number 152 of the 12,657 galaxies on the Galaxy Origins register.
Measurements
| Catalogue | PGC 18883 |
|---|---|
| Morphological type | S0-a |
| Angular diameter | 4.64′ |
| Right ascension | 06h21m39.7s |
| Declination | -27°14′01.3″ |
| Constellation | Canis Major |
| Inclination | 29.9° |
| Light travel time | 78 million years |
| Bar | yes, from the catalogue |
Check every figure above in the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database
What is sold
A print of this galaxy and the record of the calculation, once. When it sells it leaves the register and is not offered again. We assign no names and no ownership — nobody can sell you those.
At 4.6 arcminutes this is a Exceptional galaxy, which is the tier where a real photograph shows clear structure and dust lanes. The tier comes from the measured diameter, not from a price list.
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