Astronomy:List of galaxies by surface brightness

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This is a list of galaxies sorted by surface brightness. Surface brightness is a measure of how bright a diffuse object like a galaxy or nebula appears over its extended surface. The brightness over the entire galaxy is called apparent magnitude.

Malin 1 is a low surface brightness galaxy with a faint blue spiral structure.

Table

The surface brightness is calculated via S=m+2.5log10A. Where S is surface brightness, m is total magnitude, and A is the total area in square arcseconds. Area is calculated using the formula for an ellipse; πab, where a is the semi-major axis and b is the semi-minor axis. Each axis is half of the dimension, because each dimension is the entire length/height but the axis is only the length/height to the centre, this combined with the symmetry of an ellipse means that half the dimension is the axis.

Combining this with the original formula we get: S=m+2.5log10(πa2b2), which simplifies to S=m+2.5log10πab4.

Galaxy Image Surface Brightness(mag/arcsecond2) Apparent Magnitude Dimensions Distance(Mly) Type Notes Citations
Messier 82 17.40(Rc)

19.10(r) 20.87(B)

8.4 9x4 arcminutes(540x240 arcseconds) 12 Spiral Has rapid star formation due to interactions with M81 making red streaks. [1][2][3]
Messier 32 20.93 8.1 8x6 arcminutes(480x360 arcseconds) 2.5 Elliptical Satellite galaxy of the Andromeda Galaxy [4][5]
NGC 3632 21.17 10.6 3x2 arcminutes(180x120 arcseconds) 70 Spiral [6][7]
Messier 81 21.29(B)

19.30(r)

6.9 21x10 arcminutes(1260x600 arcseconds) 11.6 Spiral Faintest galaxy visible to the naked eye, despite the naked eye limiting magnitude of a star being fainter, surface brightness limits this for galaxies.[8] [9][10][11]
Whirlpool Galaxy 21.74 8.4 11x7 arcminutes(660x420 arcseconds) 31 Spiral Has a nearby galaxy in a merger.[12] [13][14]
Messier 58 21.91 9.8 5.5x4.5 arcminutes(330x270 arcseconds) 62 Spiral [15][16]
Andromeda Galaxy 22.19 3.44 178x63 arcminutes(10680x3780 arcseconds) 2.54 Spiral/ring Its core is significantly brighter than it's outer disk.[17] [18][19][20]
Messier 87 22.45 9.6 7 arcminutes(138544.23 square arcseconds) 54 Elliptical Roughly round, so πr2 is used along with angular diameter. [21][22]
Messier 49 22.6 9.4 9x7.5 arcminutes(540x450 arcseconds) 60 Elliptical [23][24]
Triangulum Galaxy 23 5.7 70.8x41.7 arcminutes(4248x2502 arcseconds) 3 Spiral [25][26]

References

  1. ↑ "Messier 82 (The Cigar Galaxy) - NASA Science" (in en-US). 2017-10-19. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-82/. 
  2. ↑ "Messier 82 - M82 - Cigar Galaxy". https://astropixels.com/galaxies/M82-01.html. 
  3. ↑ "Surface brightness". http://atlas.obs-hp.fr/hyperleda/fG.cgi?n=a105&o=NGC3034. 
  4. ↑ "Messier 32 - NASA Science" (in en-US). 2017-10-19. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-32/. 
  5. ↑ "Messier 32 - M32". https://astropixels.com/galaxies/M32-01.html. 
  6. ↑ "Caldwell 40 - NASA Science" (in en-US). 2020-08-19. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-caldwell-catalog/caldwell-40/. 
  7. ↑ "NGC 3626 (Caldwell 40)". https://www.skyledge.net/NGC3626.htm. 
  8. ↑ "M81 Naked EYE?????" (in en-US). 2007-04-20. https://www.cloudynights.com/forums/topic/106500-m81-naked-eye/. 
  9. ↑ "Messier 81 - NASA Science" (in en-US). 2017-10-19. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-81/. 
  10. ↑ "M81 and M82 - Bode and Cigar Galaxies". https://astropixels.com/galaxies/M81M82-A01.html. 
  11. ↑ "Surface brightness". http://atlas.obs-hp.fr/hyperleda/fG.cgi?n=a105&o=NGC3031. 
  12. ↑ "In Colliding Galaxies, a Pipsqueak Shines Bright" (in en-US). https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/in-colliding-galaxies-a-pipsqueak-shines-bright/. 
  13. ↑ "Messier 51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy) - NASA Science" (in en-US). 2017-10-19. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-51/. 
  14. ↑ "Messier 51 - M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy". https://astropixels.com/galaxies/M51-02.html. 
  15. ↑ "Messier 58 - NASA Science" (in en-US). 2018-03-16. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-58/. 
  16. ↑ "Messier 58 - M58". https://astropixels.com/galaxies/M58-01.html. 
  17. ↑ "How bright is Andromeda's center, in magnitudes per square arcminute or something similar?" (in en). https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/27307/how-bright-is-andromedas-center-in-magnitudes-per-square-arcminute-or-somethin#:~:text=The%20same%20aperture%2030%20arcsec,2%20in%20the%20B%20band.. 
  18. ↑ admin (2015-04-28). "Messier 31: Andromeda Galaxy" (in en-US). https://www.messier-objects.com/messier-31-andromeda-galaxy/. 
  19. ↑ "Messier 31 - M31 - Andromeda Galaxy". https://astropixels.com/galaxies/M31-01.html. 
  20. ↑ "ESA Science & Technology - ISO unveils the hidden rings of Andromeda". https://sci.esa.int/web/iso/-/12748-iso-unveils-the-hidden-rings-of-andromeda. 
  21. ↑ "Messier 87 - NASA Science" (in en-US). 2017-10-19. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-87/. 
  22. ↑ "Messier 87 - M87". https://astropixels.com/galaxies/M87-01.html. 
  23. ↑ "Messier 49 - NASA Science" (in en-US). 2022-08-26. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-49/. 
  24. ↑ "Messier 49 - M49". https://astropixels.com/galaxies/M49-01.html. 
  25. ↑ "Messier 33 (The Triangulum Galaxy) - NASA Science" (in en-US). 2019-01-07. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-33/. 
  26. ↑ "The Triangulum Galaxy | Second Nearest Spiral Galaxy to the Milky Way" (in en-US). https://astrobackyard.com/m33-triangulum-galaxy/. 



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