Seyfert's Sextet
group of galaxies in Serpens Caput constellation
Seyfert's Sextet is a compact group of galaxies located approximately 190 million light-years (58 Mpc) away in the constellation Serpens. The core interacting group spans approximately 35,000 light-years across, making the system smaller than the disk of the Milky Way. The members exhibit an average recessional velocity of 4,350 km/s. High-resolution imaging by the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed that the group consists of four physically interacting galaxies, one prominent tidal stream, and one background spiral galaxy positioned along the same line of sight.
Member Components
The six components associated with Seyfert's Sextet represent distinct physical structures. The core member is NGC 6027, a lenticular galaxy around which the other group members are distributed. Three spiral galaxies undergo strong gravitational interaction with the core: NGC 6027a exhibits tidal distortion from encounters with NGC 6027, NGC 6027b undergoes heavy tidal shear from surrounding members, and NGC 6027c displays warped structural features from close physical encounters within the group.
The remaining two designated catalogue components are not independent interacting galaxies. NGC 6027d is an unassociated background spiral galaxy located at a distance of approximately 877 million light-years (269 Mpc) with a recessional velocity of 19,815 km/s, appearing within the group purely due to line-of-sight alignment. NGC 6027e is a luminous tidal tail formed by a plume of stars and gas ejected from NGC 6027 during past interactions.
“Seyfert's Sextet” enters the record as group of galaxies in Serpens Caput constellation. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Seyfert's, Sextet and group can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Seyfert's Sextet” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Seyfert's, Sextet and group provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16025. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Seyfert's Sextet”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Seyfert's Sextet primary sources, Seyfert's Sextet archive and Seyfert's research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Seyfert's Sextet”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Seyfert's Sextet” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.