The M51 group of galaxies

A smaller galaxy group at a distance of 37 million light years.

Messier objects: M51, M63.

R. Brent Tully's Nearby Galaxies Catalog lists a total of 8 members of this group; in addition to the two Messier galaxies and M51's companion NGC 5195, they are: NGCs 5023 and 5229 as well as UGCs 8313, 8331 and 8683.

This group is rather loose and clearly dominated by the two Messier galaxies.

The following table lists some data for the galaxies in the M51 group:

Galaxy    Name II    RA (2000.0) Dec type   m_v       dim     RV

NGC 5023  H II.664   13:12.2 +44:02   Sc:   12.25p  6.5x1.0  484
UGC 8313             13:13.8 +42:12   SBc   14.63p  1.9x0.6  699
UGC 8331             13:15.5 +47:30   Ir+   14.52p  2.7x1.0  358
M63       NGC 5055   13:15.8 +42:02   Sb+    8.57  12.3x7.6  575
M51       NGC 5194   13:29.9 +47:12   Sc     8.38  11.0x7.8  573
NGC 5195  H I.186    13:30.0 +47:16   Pec    9.63   5.4x4.3  658
NGC 5229 [Swift III] 13:34.1 +47:55   SBd:  13.90p  3.3x0.7  476
UGC 8683             13:42.6 +39:40   Ir-   14.28p  2.0x1.9  748

Key: Galaxy: Some catalog number or name; RA/Dec: Position 2000.0; type: Hubble type; m_v: apparent visual magnitude; dim: dimension in arc minutes; RV: radial velocity (all data from the Sky Catalog 2000 when available).

Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
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Last Modification: April 18, 1998