Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253)

Object Type: Galaxy
Top image - AP 5" Refractor, 120 min; Bottom image - Orion 10" Newtonian, 80 min.

The Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253), also called the Silver Coin or Silver Dollar Galaxy, is a bright, dusty starburst galaxy about 11 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor, one of the nearest starburst galaxies to us. Seen nearly edge-on, it is undergoing intense star formation across its disk. It was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783. In 2024 the James Webb Space Telescope imaged NGC 253 in the infrared, revealing its dust filaments and star-forming clumps in fine detail.