Right ascension 00 48 21.859 Redshift 0.064011 Apparent size (V) 0.447' x 0.286' Constellation Sculptor | Declination −25° 07′ 36.53″ Helio radial velocity 19190 km/s Magnitude 16.5 Apparent magnitude (V) 16.5 | |
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Similar NGC 1512, NGC 3370, Hoag's Object, Sculptor Galaxy, NGC 5195 | ||
The 2MASX J00482185-2507365 occulting pair is a pair of overlapping spiral galaxies found in the vicinity of NGC 253, the Sculptor Galaxy. Both galaxies are more distant than NGC 253, with the background galaxy, 2MASX J00482185-2507365 (PGC 198187), lying at redshift z=0.06, about 800 million light-years from Earth, and the foreground galaxy lying between NGC 253 and the background galaxy (0.0008 < z < 0.06).
This pair of galaxies illuminates the distribution of galactic dust beyond the visible arms of a spiral galaxy. The heretofore unexpected extent of dust beyond the starry limits of the arms shows new areas for extragalactic astronomical study. The dusty arms extend 6 times the radii of the starry arms of the galaxy, and are shown silhouetted in HST images against the central and core sections of the background galaxy.