NGC 300
NGC 300 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. It is one of the closest galaxies to the Local Group, and probably lies between us and the Sculptor Group. It is the brightest of the five main spirals in the direction of the Sculptor Group. It is inclined at an angle of 42° when viewed from Earth and shares many characteristics of the Triangulum Galaxy.
Nearby galaxies and group information
NGC 300 and the irregular galaxy NGC 55 have traditionally been identified as members of the Sculptor Group, a nearby group of galaxies in the constellation of the same name. However, recent distance measurements indicate that these two galaxies actually lie in the foreground. It is likely that NGC 300 and NGC 55 form a gravitationally bound pair.
Distance estimates
In 1986, Allan Sandage estimated the distance to NGC 300 to be 5.41 Mly (1.66 Mpc). By 1992, this had been updated to 6.9 Mly (2.1 Mpc) by Freedman et al. In 2006, this was revised by Karachentsev et al. to be 7022662251133080656♠7.0±0.3 Mly (7022663420680015446♠2.15±0.10 Mpc). At about the same time, the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) method was used to produce an estimate of 7022558183097882267♠5.9±0.4 Mly (7022561593319827028♠1.82±0.13 Mpc) using edge detection and 7022577104558827428♠6.1±0.4 Mly (7022577021707734364♠1.87±0.12 Mpc) using maximum likelihood. These results were consistent with estimates using near-infrared photometry of Cepheid variables by Gieren et al. 2005 that provided an estimate of 7022577104558827428♠6.1±0.2 Mly (7022580107385315832♠1.88±0.07 Mpc). Combining the recent TCGB and Cepheid estimates the distance to NGC 300 is estimated at 7022574266339685654♠6.07±0.23 Mly (7022573936030152897♠1.86±0.07 Mpc).
