The Canes I Group

The Canes I group is another neighbouring group of galaxies, although it does not contain very many prominant galaxies. There are a lot of galaxies in the Canes Venatici region of the sky and it is only recently that distance estimates have become good enough to distinguish the Canes I group galaxies from the numerous background galaxies in this region.

The Canes I Group

Below - the two largest galaxies in the Canes I group. NGC 4244 (left) is an edge-on spiral galaxy which with a diameter of about 65000 light years is the largest galaxy in the group. NGC 4395 (right) is a (very dim) example of a Seyfert galaxy which means that it has a bright point-like nucleus (containing a supermassive blackhole of a few thousand solar masses).

NGC 4244 NGC 4395
NGC 4244 NGC 4395

The Galaxies of the Canes I Group

This is a list of the main galaxies in the Canes I group. There are not any particularly large galaxies in this group, but this group does contain a lot of medium-size dwarf galaxies with diameters in the range of 5 to 25 thousand light years.

  1             2        3      4     5      6    7     8     9
Name           Equatorial      Blue  Type  Size Size   RV   Other
               Coordinates     Mag          (')  kly  km/s  Names
               RA       Dec
UGC 6541     11 33.5  +49 14   14.5  Irr    1.2    5   455
NGC 3738     11 35.8  +54 31   12.1  Irr    2.5   10   406
NGC 3741     11 36.1  +45 17   14.6  Irr    2.0   10   454
UGC 6817     11 50.8  +38 52   13.4  Irr    4.1   15   497  DDO 99
NGC 4068     12 04.0  +52 35   14.1  Irr    3.3   15   394
NGC 4163     12 12.1  +36 10   14.5  Irr    1.8    5   423
NGC 4190     12 13.7  +36 38   14.0  Irr    1.7    5   487
UGCA 276     12 14.9  +36 13   18?   Irr    1.0    5   542  DDO 113
NGC 4214     12 15.6  +36 19   10.2  Irr    8.5   30   548
NGC 4244     12 17.5  +37 48   11.1  Sc    16.6   65   493
UGC 7321     12 17.5  +22 32   14.1  Scd    5.5   20   715
IC 779       12 19.6  +29 53   15.4  E      1.0    5   560
IC 3308      12 25.3  +26 42   16.4  Scd    1.3    5   605
NGC 4395     12 25.9  +33 32   11.4  SBd   13.2   50   585
UGCA 281     12 26.2  +48 29   15.4  Irr    0.8    5   481
UGC 7559     12 27.1  +37 08   14.2  Irr    3.2   10   468  DDO 126
UGC 7577     12 27.6  +43 29   12.9  Irr    4.3   15   418  DDO 125
NGC 4449     12 28.2  +44 05   10.1  Irr    6.2   25   422
UGC 7605     12 28.7  +35 42   14.8  Irr    1.1    5   563
UGC 7698     12 32.9  +31 32   13.1  Irr    6.5   25   602  DDO 133
UGCA 290     12 37.4  +38 45   15.7  Irr    0.4    2   694
UGCA 292     12 38.4  +32 46   16.1  Irr    1.0    5   571  CVn Dwarf A
IC 3687      12 42.2  +38 30   13.7  Irr    3.4   15   597  DDO 141
M94          12 50.9  +41 07    8.8  Sab   11.2   40   532  NGC 4736
NGC 4789A    12 54.1  +27 09   14.1  Irr    3.0   10   648  UGC 8024
IC 4182      13 05.8  +37 36   12.5  Sm     6.0   25   546
UGC 8215     13 08.0  +46 49   17?   Irr    1.0    5   408
NGC 5023     13 12.2  +44 02   12.8  Sc     6.0   25   607
UGC 8308     13 13.4  +46 19   18.8  Irr    1.1    5   356  DDO 167
UGC 8320     13 14.5  +45 55   12.7  Irr    3.6   15   385  DDO 168
UGCA 342     13 15.1  +42 00   17?   Irr    1.6    5   593
NGC 5204     13 29.6  +58 26   11.7  Sm     5.0   20   329
UGC 8508     13 30.8  +54 55   14.8  Irr    1.7    5   204
NGC 5229     13 34.1  +47 55   14.7  SBcd   3.3   15   535
NGC 5238     13 34.7  +51 37   14.3  Sd     1.7    5   388
UGC 8638     13 39.3  +24 47   15.1  Irr    1.2    5   523
UGC 8651     13 39.9  +40 44   14.5  Irr    2.3   10   399  DDO 181
UGC 8760     13 50.9  +38 01   14.4  Irr    2.2   10   391  DDO 183
UGC 8833     13 54.8  +35 50   15.2  Irr    0.9    5   431
UGC 9128     14 15.9  +23 03   14.7  Irr    1.7    5   371  DDO 187
UGC 9240     14 24.7  +44 31   13.6  Irr    1.8    5   301  DDO 190
Column 1: The usual name of the galaxy.
Column 2: The Right Ascension for epoch 2000.
Column 3: The Declination for epoch 2000.
Column 4: The blue apparent magnitude of the galaxy.
Column 5: The galaxy type: E=Elliptical, S0=Lenticular, Sa,Sb,Sc,Sd=Spiral,
          SBa,SBb,SBc,SBd=Barred Spiral, Sm,SBm,Irr=Irregular.
Column 6: The angular diameter of the galaxy (arcminutes).
Column 7: The diameter of the galaxy (thousands of light years).
Column 8: The recessional velocity (km/s) of the galaxy relative to
          the cosmic microwave background.
Column 9: Other names of the galaxy.

References:
Karachentsev I, Sharina M, Dolphin A, E. Grebel K, Geisler D,Guhathakurta P, Hodge P,
       Karachentseva V, Sarajedini A, Seitzer P, (2003), Galaxy Flow in the Canes
       Venatici I Cloud. Astron Astrophys, 398, 467.
Sharina M, Karachentsev I, Tikhonov N, (1999), Distances to eight nearby isolated 
       low-luminosity galaxies. Astron Lett, 25, 322.
Makarova L, Karachentsev I, Takalo L, Heinaemaeki P, Valtonen M, (1998), Detailed
       images and distance measurements for eighteen dwarf irregular galaxies in the
       Canes Venatici cloud. Astron Astrophys Supp, 128, 459.
Makarova L, Karachentsev I, Georgiev Ts, (1997), Distances to six irregular galaxies
       in the Canes Venatici cluster from the brightest stars. Astron Lett, 23, 378.
Schmidt K, Priebe A, Boller T, (1993), Nearby Galaxies. Astron Nachr, 314, 371.
The HyperLeda Database, (2003).

Below - three Canes I group galaxies. NGC 4214 (left) and NGC 4449 (centre) are two galaxies which are very similar in size and shape to the Large Magellanic Cloud and they are both actively forming stars. UGC 7698 (right), by contrast, seems to have ceased forming stars and is much fainter.

NGC 4214 NGC 4449 UGC 7698
NGC 4214 NGC 4449 UGC 7698

Shown below is M94 - the brightest (although not the largest) galaxy in the Canes I group. This galaxy seems to lie somewhere near the back of the group. M94 is a famous example of a ring galaxy - a galaxy which is surrounded by a ring of stars.

M94
M94

Below - three more galaxies in the Canes I group. IC 4182 (left) is an irregular galaxy with only faint signs of spiral structure. NGC 5023 (centre) is probably a small edge-on spiral galaxy. NGC 5204 (right) is an irregular galaxy which lies on the border of the Canes I group and the nearby M81 group.

IC 4182 NGC 5023 NGC 5204
IC 4182 NGC 5023 NGC 5204

Properties of the Canes I Group
Equatorial Coordinates RA=13h00m Dec=+40°
Galactic Coordinates l=115° b=+75°
Supergalactic Coordinates L=75° B=+10°
Distance to the centre of the group 13 million light years
Number of large galaxies 4
Alternative names for the group M94 Group
The Virgo Supercluster Back to the Virgo Supercluster page