NGC 23 is a

spiral galaxy Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae''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 ...

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

, around distant from the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...

. It was discovered by

William Herschel Frederick William Herschel (; german: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline H ...

on 10 September 1784. In the ''Webb Society Deep-Sky Observer's Handbook'', the visual appearance of NGC 23 is described as follows:

Bright, extended ellipse; a bright nuclear structure is noticeably elongated; two weak spiral enhancements emerge from opposite sides of the nucleus, one curving towards a bright star attached on the south end. The galaxy is likely interacting with
NGC 9 NGC 9 is a spiral galaxy about 140 million light-years away in the Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usuall ...
.

The shape of this galaxy is described by its morphological classification of SBb, which indicates it is a barred spiral (SB) with spiral arms that are moderately tightly wound (b). It is a

luminous infrared galaxy Luminous infrared galaxies or LIRGs are Galaxy, galaxies with Luminosity, luminosities, the measurement of brightness, above . They are also referred to as submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) through their normal method of detection. LIRGs are more abund ...

with star-forming clumps. In 1958, supernova SN 1955C was discovered in NGC 23 using the

Hale Telescope The Hale Telescope is a , 3.3 reflecting telescope at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, US, named after astronomer George Ellery Hale. With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1928, he orchestrated the planning, de ...

. On a photographic plate taken 23 October 1955 (three years prior), a bright star with a visual magnitude around 16 was located to the north and east of the galactic center. It was not present on a plate taken 60 days prior.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:NGC 0023 Barred spiral galaxies Luminous infrared galaxies NGC 0023 0023 00089 000698 Galaxies discovered in 1784 Discoveries by William Herschel