The Catalogue of Principal Galaxies (PGC) is an astronomical catalog published in 1989 that lists

B1950 In astronomy, an equinox is either of two places on the celestial sphere at which the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator. Although there are two such intersections, the equinox associated with the Sun's ascending node is used as the con ...

and J2000

equatorial coordinates The equatorial coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system widely used to specify the positions of celestial objects. It may be implemented in spherical or rectangular coordinates, both defined by an origin at the centre of Earth, a fund ...

and cross-identifications for 73,197

galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

. It is based on the

Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic Database The Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic Database (LEDA) was a database of galaxies, created in 1983 at the Lyon Observatory. Each galaxy had a number assigned to it, which is now known as its PGC number. The Principal Galaxies Catalogue The Catalogue of ...

(LEDA), which was originally started in 1983. 40,932 coordinates (56%) have

standard deviation In statistics, the standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values. A low standard deviation indicates that the values tend to be close to the mean (also called the expected value) of the set, while ...

s smaller than . A total of 131,601 names from the 38 most common sources are listed. Available mean data for each object are given: * 49,102 morphological descriptions, * 52,954 apparent

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

and

minor axis In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the lon ...

, * 67,116 apparent magnitudes, * 20,046 radial velocities and * 24,361 position angles. The Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic Database was eventually expanded into HyperLEDA, a database of a few million galaxies. Galaxies in the original PGC catalogue are numbered with their original PGC number in HyperLEDA. Numbers have also been assigned for the other galaxies, although for those galaxies not in the original PGC catalogue, it is not recommended to use that number as a name.

Examples

PGC 39058

PGC 39058 is a dwarf galaxy which is located approximately 14 million light-years away in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

Draco Draco is the Latin word for serpent or dragon. Draco or Drako may also refer to: People * Draco (lawgiver) (from Greek: Δράκων; 7th century BC), the first lawgiver of ancient Athens, Greece, from whom the term ''draconian'' is derived * D ...

. It is relatively nearby, however it is obscured by a bright star which is in front of the galaxy.

PGC 6240

PGC 6240 PGC 6240, also known as AM 0139-655 or the White Rose Galaxy, is a very large and old galaxy in the southern constellation of Hydrus, about 345 million light years away from Earth. Appearing like a white rose in the sky, the galaxy has foggy sh ...

(also known as White Rose Galaxy) is a large lenticular galaxy in the

Hydrus. It is located about 346 million light-years away from Earth.

References

External links

PGC info at ESO's archive of astronomical catalogues

PGC readme
at Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. {{Authority control Astronomical catalogues of galaxies 1989 documents 1989 in science

Examples

PGC 39058

PGC 6240

See also

References

External links