https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_known_galaxies
iI was hoping it might be a bigger list
Milky Way Galaxy is around 180,000 ly across
IC 1101 Galaxy is 5,800,000 ly across
CrazyNeutrino said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_known_galaxiesI was hoping it might be a bigger list
Milky Way Galaxy is around 180,000 ly across
IC 1101 Galaxy is 5,800,000 ly across
You’re right, that is a pathetically tiny list. Even I could do better than that.
Centaurus A is the first giant galaxy that comes to mind.
Another is M87, one of the largest, if not the largest, in the Virgo cluster.
A good place to start researching giant galaxies is the “brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) defined as the brightest galaxy in a cluster of galaxies. BCGs include the most massive galaxies in the universe. They are generally elliptical galaxies” “with an extended envelope”.
That leads to galaxies of type gE, the giant ellipticals, which include:
ESO 325-G004
4C 73.08
MACS J1423.8+2404
Maffei 1
as well as IC 1101 mentioned above.
As for largest apparent size as seen from Earth, even the large and small Magellanic clouds are bigger than Andromeda (although at least one source gives far too large an apparent size for Andromeda). Other large galaxies in apparent size include the pinwheel, southern pinwheel, triangulum and grand design galaxies of the Messier type. I did some years ago see a website that listed these in order of apparent size.
One way of defining the size of a galaxy is R 50, the radius to 50% surface brightness. Typical galaxies have R 50 = 4 kiloparsecs, typical BGC galaxies have R 50 = 4 kiloparsecs. Few galaxies have R 50 > 9 kiloparsecs. At least one BGC galaxy has R 50 = 10 kiloparsecs.
> Typical galaxies have R 50 = 4 kiloparsecs, typical BGC galaxies have R 50 = 4 kiloparsecs. Few galaxies have R 50 > 9 kiloparsecs. At least one BGC galaxy has R 50 = 10 kiloparsecs.
Oops. Two errors.
Typical galaxies have R 50 = 4 kiloparsecs, typical BGC galaxies have R 50 = 5 kiloparsecs. Few galaxies have R 50 > 9 kiloparsecs. At least one BGC galaxy has R 50 = 11 kiloparsecs.
Radio galaxies also tend to be among the largest galaxies.
Here is a list of some more large galaxies in Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type-cD_galaxy#Examples_of_cD_galaxies
Perseus A
NGC 6166
IC 1101, the largest known galaxy in terms of diameter (around 5.5 million light years)
Messier 87, the central galaxy in the Virgo Cluster
NGC 1399 in the Fornax Cluster
NGC 4889, is also known as the Caldwell 35 a supergiant galaxy a class-4 elliptical galaxy, it is the brightest within Caldwell Objects in the constellation Coma Berenices
NGC 6086
QSO 0957, the first identified gravitationally lensed object
> As for largest apparent size as seen from Earth
I’ve just sorted the Messier objects by diameter (this ignores some southern hemisphere galaxies). Diameters and minor axis in arcminutes.
645*550 LMC
320*185 SMC
178*63 Andromeda Galaxy
73*45 Triangulum Galaxy
22*22 Pinwheel Galaxy
21*10 Bode’s Galaxy
19*8 M106
17*10 M110
11*10 Southern Pinwheel
11*7 Whirlpool Galaxy
10.2*9.5 M74
10*6 Sunflower Galaxy
9*7.5 M49
9*4 Cigar Galaxy
9*4 Sombrero Galaxy
> A good place to start researching giant galaxies is the “brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) defined as the brightest galaxy in a cluster of galaxies. BCGs include the most massive galaxies in the universe. They are generally elliptical galaxies” “with an extended envelope”.
Using the Simbad database, picked up this list of Brightest Cluster Galaxies using “maintype = BiC”. There are hundreds of thousands of these, but I also took note that those that have been most frequently observed are near the top of the list, and this includes IC1101 as the 25th most popular. So, here are the top 60 Brightest in Cluster Galaxies ordered by popularity.
NGC 1399
NGC 5846
NGC 4696
NGC 5044
2MASX J07473129-1917403
NGC 507
IC 4182
NGC 3311
NGC 2832
NGC 2484
3C 15
NGC 708
87GB 005314.6+260945
NGC 6868
IC 4329
NGC 6086
NGC 4073
NGC 7768
NGC 3258
NGC 5419
NGC 3091
NGC 3268
NGC 6137
NGC 6173
IC 1101
NGC 1550
NGC 7728
NGC 5920
NGC 6051
4C 00.02
NGC 4325
NGC 7014
NGC 7237
NGC 5098
NGC 1129
NAME A496cD
MCG-02-02-086
MCG-02-36-002
IC 1633
2MASX J08391582+2850389
IC 5358
MCG+02-04-010
IC 4765
4C 32.26
IC 5338
NGC 4761
NGC 439
ESO 541-13
NGC 7503
UGC 10143
NGC 3271
NGC 4756
NGC 7647
ESO 444-46
NGC 6107
NGC 6041
2MASX J08053779-0058174
2MASX J22391136-1720284
UGC 5515
MCG+02-39-020
4C 34.45
NGC 1399 – brightest galaxy in Fornax cluster, angular size 3.9*3.9 arcmin, distance 19 megaparsecs.
NGC 5846 – elliptical galaxy in Virgo III, angular size 4.1*3.8 arcmin, distance 26 megaparsecs.
NGC 4696 – brightest galaxy in Centaurus cluster, angular size 4.0*3.4 arcmin, distance 46 megaparsecs.
NGC 5044 – elliptical galaxy, angular size 2.5*2.1 arcmin, distance 33 megaparsecs.
2MASX J07473129-1917403 – angular size 0.26*0.22 arcmin, redshift 0.103 gives 432 megaparsecs.
NGC 507 – also called Arp 299 in Pisces, angular size 2.5*2.3 arcmin, distance 63 megaparsecs.
IC 4182 – irregular galaxy, only famous as the host of a supernova.
NGC 3311 etc.
IC 1101 compared with other galaxies:
