NGC 262
NGC 262 as imaged by the SDSS.
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Andromeda
Right ascension	00h 48m 47.14154s[1]
Declination	+31° 57′ 25.08″[1]
Distance	287 million light-years (88 Mpc)[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)	13.1
Characteristics
Type	S0a
Apparent size (V)	1,1' × 1,1'
Other designations
2MASX J00484711+3157249, UGC 499, Markarian 348 [1]

NGC 262 (also known as Markarian 348) is a spiral galaxy in the cluster LGG 14.^[1] It is a Seyfert 2 spiral galaxy located 287 million light years away in the constellation Andromeda.^[2] It was discovered on September 17, 1885 by Lewis A. Swift.

Size

This galaxy has an apparent diameter of 1.1' of the Earth's sky.^[3] It holds approximately 15 trillion stars.^{[citation needed]} [NGC 262] was tidally disturbed by the gravitational forces of smaller galaxies, which resulted in its large size.^[3]

NGC 262 is very unusual, since it is 10 times larger than a regular spiral galaxy of its type.^[2] According to Morris and Wannier, NGC 262 is surrounded by a huge cloud of neutral hydrogen^[2] that is probably caused by the tidal stripping of smaller galaxies. The cloud has an apparent mass of approximately 50 billion solar masses^[2] at a distance of 88 kiloparsecs (287,000 light-years)^[2] from the nucleus of NGC 262 and extending up to 300 kiloparsecs (1 million light-years) away.^[2] The cloud is spiral shaped with at least one arm, and possibly another one extending throughout the galaxy.