The Sculptor Galaxy (also known as NGC 253, Caldwell 75, Silver Coin Galaxy or Silver Dollar Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy in Sculptor. That’s a southern hemisphere constellation and it does not get very high in the north. For me at home it would not rise about 25 degrees above the horizon. Thankfully at the observatory in Texas where this was taken it gets to 34 degrees.

The galaxy was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783. It is about 11 million light years away so though it is not in our local group of galaxies, it is relatively near by. It sits at the center of a group of galaxies called the Sculptor Group.

It is easily seen in binoculars and is a great target for visual astronomers.

This is 26h 30m of RGB data. For all the technical details see astrobin.