NGC 406 is a spiral galaxy quite similar to the well known Whirlpool Galaxy, located some 65 million light-years away,^[1] in the southern constellation of Tucana (the Toucan) and discovered in 1834 by John Herschel. It is described in the New General Catalogue as "faint, very large, round, very gradually a little brighter middle".^[3] NGC 406 is about 60000 light-years across, roughly half the diameter of the Milky Way.

NGC 406
NGC 406, by Hubble Space Telescope
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Tucana
Right ascension	01h 07m 25.060s
Declination	−69° 52′ 45.27″
Redshift	0.005030[1]
Heliocentric radial velocity	1508[1]
Distance	66.30 ± 6.27 Mly (20.329 ± 1.923 Mpc)[1]
Apparent magnitude (B)	13.02[2]
Characteristics
Type	SA(s)c[2]
Size	60,000 ly (18,000 pc)
Other designations
ESO 51-18, PGC 3980