NGC 891

Right Ascension	02 : 22.6 (h:m)
Declination	+42 : 21 (deg:m)
Distance	10000.0 (kly)
Visual Brightness	10 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	13.5 x 2.8 (arc min)

NGC 891 is a fine edge-on spiral with a faint dust lane along its equator. According to Admiral Smyth, it is another discovery of Caroline Herschel, who found it in August, 1783. Her brother William Herschel cataloged it as H V.19.

Our image was obtained with the Isaac Newton Telescope under cooperation with David Malin. This image is copyrighted and may be used for private purpose only. For any other kind of use, including internet mirroring and storing on CD-ROM, please contact Coral Cooksley of the Anglo Australian Observatory.

Gilbert A. Esquerdo and John C. Barentine have investigated NGC 891 in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and suspect that this galaxy might have a bar (and thus be of Hubble type SBb) which is not seen in the visible image because of its edge-on orientation.

NGC 891 is a member of a small group of galaxies, sometimes called the NGC 1023 group, which also contains NGCs 925, 949, 959, 1003, 1023, and 1058 as well as UGCs 1807, 1865 (DDO 19), 2014 (DDO 22), 2023 (DDO 25), 2034 (DDO 24), and 2259.

In the SAC 110 best NGC object list. No. 12 in the RASC Finest NGC Object list.

Last Modification: 10 Jul 1999, 10:55 MET