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(Redirected from Markarian 348)
Spiral galaxy in constellation Andromeda
NGC 262 (also known as Markarian 348) is the largest known spiral galaxy, located in the constellation Andromeda. It is a Seyfert 2 spiral galaxy located 287 million light years away. It was discovered on 17 September 1885 by Lewis A. Swift.
This galaxy has an estimated diameter of 1.3 Million Light-years. It holds approximately 15 trillion stars. NGC 262 was tidally disturbed by the gravitational forces of smaller galaxies, which resulted in its large size.
NGC 262 is very unusual, since it is 10 times larger than a regular spiral galaxy of its type.
According to Morris and Wannier, NGC 262 is surrounded by a huge cloud of neutral hydrogen that is probably caused by the tidal stripping of smaller galaxies. The cloud has an apparent mass of approximately 50 billion solar masses at a distance of 88 kiloparsecs (287,000 light-years) from the nucleus of NGC 262 and extending up to 300 kiloparsecs (1 million light-years) away. The cloud is spiral-shaped with at least one arm, and possibly another one extending throughout the galaxy.
Garcia, A. M. (1993). "General study of group membership. II. Determination of nearby groups". Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series. 100: 47. Bibcode:1993A&AS..100...47G.
NGC 262 imaged by Legacy Surveys.
Media related to NGC 262 at Wikimedia Commons
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