Distances

[mdstuart]

Where is the best database of galaxy distances..

There is a 200 brightest one but what about say for all NGC galaxies. These NED and LEDA things list various modulus etc but one of them shows M31 at 27MLY??

Is there one you use that just gives the latest estimate. What do APOD or sky and night magazine use etc...

Mark

[umadog]

Probably they mean 2.7 MLY. That would be about right.

I use SkyTools3 for this. The databases have been curated by the software's author. It's not free but but not too pricey, especially since you'd be paying in pounds. It has the option to sort objects by distance.

I enclose a tab-separated list of the NGC galaxies within 150 MYL. I made it with SkyTools. You can import into Excel, I imagine.

[661-pete]

I suppose the answer is, for rather a lot of galaxies the entry in the distance box would be "unknown" .

I think the SEDS database, which is usually my first 'port of call' in looking up a galaxy (at least, one which is in NGC or IC), generally gives the most up-to-date information if it is known - either on the main galaxy page itself, or on a "more about NGCxxxx" link if there is one.

Incidentally, it gives the distance for M31 as 2.9 MLY. I wonder who is more accurate?

[mdstuart]

Thanks Pete