Phantom Galaxy (M74 · NGC 628) — Sc in Pisces
The Phantom Galaxy (M74, NGC 628) as a framed fine art print. Sc in Pisces, 9.9 arcminutes across, its light 32 million years old. Measured by HyperLEDA…
About Phantom Galaxy (M74 · NGC 628)
The Phantom Galaxy is one of the most perfect face-on spirals in the sky: two clean spiral arms, seen from directly above. It is a favourite of the James Webb Space Telescope, whose infrared images show its arms as a web of glowing dust. It is called the Phantom because it is notoriously hard to see by eye; its light is spread thinly across its whole disc.
What you are looking at
The Phantom Galaxy is a late-type spiral: a small central bulge and open, loosely wound arms full of young stars and star-forming gas. We look down on it almost face-on, so its structure is laid out as if on a map. From edge to edge its visible disc spans about 91,000 light-years (taking its redshift distance, which for a galaxy this near is approximate), close to the width of the Milky Way.
What astronomers have recorded
Three supernovae have been recorded in it, the first in 2002; the most recent include SN 2002ap, SN 2003gd, SN 2013ej. It is cited in 1,991 scientific papers indexed by SIMBAD, and recorded there under 26 different catalogue designations.
When this light set out
Its light has been travelling for about 32 million years. When it left, Antarctica had begun to freeze. The galaxy is moving away from us at about 658 km/s (1.5 million mph), carried by the expansion of the universe. For a galaxy this close, its own motion through space is a large share of that speed, so the distance worked out from it is approximate; distances measured from individual stars in it can differ.
Finding it in the sky
The Phantom Galaxy lies in Pisces. It is best placed on autumn evenings: around 9:30 pm in November it stands about 66° high in the south, seen from the middle of the United States.
Its neighbours
At almost the same distance from us, and so its neighbours in space as well as on the sky: UGC 1171 (0.7° away on the sky, at least 410,000 light-years from it); UGC 1176 (0.8° away on the sky, at least 470,000 light-years from it); UGC 1195 (2.3° away on the sky, at least 1,260,000 light-years from it); NGC 660 (2.6° away on the sky, at least 1,450,000 light-years from it), and 1 more.
By apparent size it is number 17 of the 12,657 galaxies on the Galaxy Origins register.
Measurements
| Catalogue | PGC 5974 |
|---|---|
| Morphological type | Sc |
| Angular diameter | 9.89′ |
| Right ascension | 01h36m41.8s |
| Declination | +15°47′00.4″ |
| Constellation | Pisces |
| Inclination | 19.8° |
| Light travel time | 32 million years |
| Bar | not recorded |
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 9.9 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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