The Sculptor Group is a loose group of galaxies visible near the south galactic pole. The group is one of the closest groups of galaxies to the Local Group; the distance to the center of the group from the Milky Way is approximately .
The Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253) and a few other galaxies form a gravitationally-bound core in the center of this group. A few other galaxies at the periphery may be associated with the group but may not be gravitationally bound. Because most of the galaxies in this group are actually weakly gravitationally bound, the group may also be described as a filament. It is considered to be at an early stage of evolution in which galaxies are still falling into the group along filamentary structures.
Members
The table below lists galaxies that have been identified as associated with the Sculptor Galaxy (and hence associated with the group) by I. D. Karachentsev and collaborators. +Members of the Sculptor Group Name Type R.A. (J2000) Dec. (J2000) Redshift (km/s) Apparent Magnitude IC 1574 IM(s)m 363 ± 4 15.1 NGC 59 SA(rs)0 362 ± 10 13.1 NGC 247 SAB(s)d 156 ± 2 9.9 NGC 625 SB(s)m 396 ± 1 11.7 NGC 7793 SA(s)d 227 ± 2 10.0 PGC 2881 IABm 16.5 PGC 2933 IAB(s)m pec 16.6 PGC 6430 IB(s)m 391 ± 2 12.7 Sculptor-dE1 dE 16.9 Sculptor Dwarf Irregular Galaxy(PGC 621) IBm 221 ± 6 15.5 Sculptor Galaxy(NGC 253) SAB(s)c 243 ± 2 8.0 UGCA 15 IB(s)m 295 ± 0 15.2 UGCA 442 SB(s)m 267 ± 2 13.6
The object names used in the above table differ from the names used by Karachentsev and collaborators. NGC, IC, UGC, and PGC numbers have been used when possible to allow for easier referencing.
Field galaxies
The irregular galaxy NGC 55, the spiral galaxy NGC 300, and their companion galaxies have been considered by many researchers to be part of the Sculptor Group or LGG 4. LGG 4 is classified to have at least 7 members, which are NGC 55, NGC 7793, NGC 300, ESO 349-31, ESO 351-30, ESO 295-29 and ESO 352-2. However, recent distance measurements to these and other galaxies in the same region of the sky show that NGC 55, NGC 300, and their companions may simply be foreground galaxies that are physically unassociated with the Sculptor Group. The galaxies NGC 24 and NGC 45 are located in the vicinity of the Sculptor Group, but are now considered background objects.
References