Stephan's Quintet Print

Stephan's Quintet is a visual grouping of five galaxies of which four form the first compact galaxy group ever discovered. The group was discovered by Édouard Stephan in 1877 at Marseilles Observatory. The group is the most studied of all the compact galaxy groups. "Stephan's Quintet" is 290 million light-years away, though NGC 7320 (upper left) is 40 million light-years from Earth. Image courtesy of NASA/Hubble.