The Sculptor Galaxy (also known as NGC 253, Caldwell 65, and the Silver Coin) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. The Sculptor Galaxy is a starburst galaxy, which means that it is currently undergoing a period of intense star formation.
Features[]
The Sculptor Galaxy is located at the center of the Sculptor Group, one of the nearest groups of galaxies to the Milky Way. The Sculptor Galaxy (the brightest galaxy in the group and one of the intrinsically brightest galaxies in the vicinity of ours, only surpassed by the Andromeda Galaxy and the Sombrero Galaxy) and the companion galaxies NGC 247, PGC 2881, PGC 2933, Sculptor-dE1, and UGCA 15 form a gravitationally-bound core near the center of the group. Most other galaxies associated with the Sculptor Group are only weakly gravitationally bound to this core.
NGC 253's starburst has created several super star clusters on NGC 253's center, discovered with the aid of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Central Blackhole[]
Research suggests the presence of a supermassive black hole in the center of this galaxy with a mass estimated to be 5 million times that of our Sun, which is slightly heavier than Sagittarius A*.
Detail of NGC 253 by Hubble Space Telescope.