De Vaucouleurs Atlas Type: SAB(r)bc

Filter: B

Telescope: Danish 1.54-m
North up , East left
Field Dimensions: 13.6 x 13.6 arcminutes

RC3 Type: SAB(r)bc
RSA Type: Sbc(r)II/SBbc(r)II
Surface Brightness Range Displayed: 18.5-27.0 mag per square arcsec
Absolute Blue Magnitude: -21.3

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Description:

NGC 6744 was first studied in detail by de Vaucouleurs (1963b), who noted that it is the largest barred spiral of the ring variety in the southern sky. It is also one of the nearest spirals to the Local Group.

The morphology is characterized by a weak central bar surrounded by a fairly well-defined inner ring . Outside this ring is an extensive multi-armed, global spiral pattern. The galaxy can be considered a prototype of the classification SAB(r)bc.

NGC 6744 contains features that de Vaucouleurs believed compared very favorably to the probable face-on view of the Milky Way (de Vaucouleurs and Pence 1978). First, the multi-armed spiral structure resembles maps of the distribution of HI in the Milky Way. The inner ring is comparable in location to the ``3kpc arm" of the Milky Way, a feature also thought to be part of an inner ring . Finally, other photometric properties, such as the absolute B-band magnitude of NGC 6744 , are thought to be similar to the Milky Way.