C48
NGC 2775
Object Data
- Catalog Designation
- C48
- Type
- Galaxy
- Constellation
- Cancer
- Magnitude
- 10.3
- Right Ascension
- 09h 08m 06.7s
- Declination
- +07° 02' 06.0"
- Distance
- 55,000,000 light-years
- Angular Size
- 5
Survey Image
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About C48
Description
NGC 2775 is a spiral galaxy in Cancer, about 55 million light-years away. It has an unusually smooth, bright central region surrounded by tightly wound, faint spiral arms with a distinctive flocculent (patchy) structure.
Observing Tips
Visible as a moderately bright, round glow with a prominent nucleus in a 6-inch telescope. Not much spiral structure is visible visually. Best in winter and spring evenings.
History
Discovered by William Herschel on March 19, 1783. Hubble Space Telescope images revealed that the spiral arms contain almost no gas, suggesting star formation has nearly ceased.
Fun Facts
NGC 2775 has an unusually large and bright bulge relative to its disk, and its spiral arms are remarkably gas-poor. It appears to be a galaxy that has exhausted most of its raw material for making new stars.
Community Photos (1)
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team. License: CC BY 4.0. (Wikimedia Commons)
Skybred Mar 2, 2026