Seyfert's Sextet

Seyfert's Sextet is a group of galaxies. It is located about 190 million light years away from Earth. From Earth, it is in the constellation of Serpens. Although appears to have 6 members, one of the galaxies, NGC 6027d, is just a background galaxy and another member, NGC 6027e, is actually not a galaxy, it is just the tidal tail from the galaxy NGC 6027. All of the galaxies are violently interacting and will continue hundreds of millions of years. They all will collide into one giant elliptical galaxy.

 Discovery 
The group was discovered by Carl Keenan Seyfert in using photographic plates made at the Barnard Observatory of Vanderbilt University. The results were published in 1951. At the time, this group is the most compact galactic group ever identified.

 Members 
There are 4 true members of the group, 1 background galaxy and 1 object that is now identified to be a tidal tail.
+Members of Seyfert's SextetNameTypeDistance from Sun 
(million ly)Apparent magnitudeNGC 6027S0 pec.~190 +14.7NGC 6027aSa pec.~190 +15.4NGC 6027bS0 pec.~190 +15.4NGC 6027cSB(S)c~190 +16NGC 6027dSB(S)bc pec.~877 +15.6NGC 6027eSB0 pec.~190 +16.5

 References 

Category:Galaxies