It is a barred spiral and the brightest member of the
Sculptor group of galaxies: the nearest group to our own Local Group.
NGC 253 is the most luminous galaxy in the
Sculptor Group and lies
NGC 247 is part of the
Sculptor Group, the nearest collection of galaxies to the Local Group, which includes our own Milky Way.
Less than a month after that discovery a possible SN was found in NGC 300, another nearby galaxy and also a member of the
Sculptor Group. The object remained rather faint and spectral data were different from that of any type SN.
The nearest galaxy group beyond the Local Group is the
Sculptor Group. Five of its members are shown in the chart above.
The 7.2-magnitude Silver Coin Galaxy, NGC 253, is the brightest member of the
Sculptor Group, a small cluster of galaxies lying just beyond our Local Group at a distance of roughly 10 million light-years.
They are part of the second nearest galaxy group (10 million light years distant), after the
Sculptor group of galaxies which is around 8 million light years away.
Discovered by James Dunlop in August 1826, NGC 300 (also known as Caldwell 70) is a member of the
Sculptor Group of galaxies and lies a little more than 6 million light-years away.
NGC 247 is about 7 million light-years away and a member of the
Sculptor Group of galaxies, which vies with the Maffei I Group for the title of nearest aggregation to our own Local Group.
Situated 3[degrees] south-southeast of Deneb Kaitos, Beta ([beta])Ceti, this 9th-magnitude dwarf spiral is a member of the nearby
Sculptor Group of galaxies.
There's no such grand equivalent near Sculptor, but there is a smaller, closer collection of galaxies known as the
Sculptor Group. The brightest of its dozen or so members are NGC 253, NGC 300, and NGC 55.