About NGC 7556A
NGC 7556A is a common galaxy. It sits in the constellation Psc.
A galaxy: a gravitationally bound city of stars, gas and dark matter, turning so slowly that a single rotation takes hundreds of millions of years.
Common galaxy 17 EP
NGC 7556A
RA 348.9322° · Dec -2.3856° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 2 badgesCommon 22 pts → Uncommon
- Galaxy +14
- On the zodiac +3
Total score 17
5 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Galaxy · +14
- On the zodiac · +3
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. A galaxy: a gravitationally bound city of stars, gas and dark matter, turning so slowly that a single rotation takes hundreds of millions of years.
Sense of scale
- Scale. Home to hundreds of billions of stars — a universe unto itself, and every one of those points of light could have planets.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Pisces.
- Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around September — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Its colour is a census: blue where gas is still collapsing into hot young stars, yellow-red in the old, settled core.
How we came to know it
- The New General Catalogue. Its NGC number comes from J. L. E. Dreyer's 1888 catalogue, itself built on decades of sky sweeps by William Herschel and his sister Caroline.
Properties
- constellation
- Psc
- dso type
- G
- name
- NGC 7556A
- size arcmin
- 0.28
How to see it
Look for NGC 7556A in the constellation Psc.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 7556A is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why NGC 7556A is a common galaxy
NGC 7556A scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 2 science badges — Galaxy and On the zodiac — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.