# NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database

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The **NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database** (**NED**) is an online astronomical [database](/source/Database) for astronomers that collates and cross-correlates [astronomical](/source/Astronomy) information on extragalactic objects (galaxies, quasars, radio, x-ray and infrared sources, etc.). NED was created in the late 1980s by two Pasadena astronomers, George Helou and Barry F. Madore. NED is funded by [NASA](/source/NASA) and is operated by the [Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC)](/source/Infrared_Processing_and_Analysis_Center_(IPAC)) on the campus of the [California Institute of Technology](/source/California_Institute_of_Technology), under contract with NASA.[1]

NED is built around a master list of extragalactic objects for which cross-identifications of names have been established, accurate positions and redshifts entered to the extent possible, and some basic data collected. Bibliographic references relevant to individual objects have been compiled. Detailed and referenced photometry, position, and redshift data, have been taken from large compilations and from the literature.[2][3]

NED also includes images from [2MASS](/source/2MASS),[4] from the literature, and from the [Digitized Sky Survey](/source/Digitized_Sky_Survey).[5]

As of October 2025, NED contains 1.1 billion distinct [astronomical objects](/source/Astronomical_object) with 1.5 billion cross-identifications across multiple [wavelengths](/source/Wavelength), with [redshift](/source/Redshift) measurements for 19 million objects, 14 billion [photometric](/source/Photometry_(astronomy)) data points, 609 million diameter measurements, 250 thousand redshift-independent distances for over 150 thousand galaxies, 500 thousand detailed classifications for 230 thousand objects, and 2.6 million images, maps and external links, together with links to 140 thousand journal articles, notes and abstracts.[6]

## See also

- [SIMBAD](/source/SIMBAD) - a database of information on Galactic objects, maintained by the [Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg](/source/Centre_de_Donn%C3%A9es_astronomiques_de_Strasbourg), [France](/source/France)
- NASA's [Planetary Data System](/source/Planetary_Data_System) (PDS) - a database of information on solar system objects, also maintained by [JPL](/source/JPL)
- NASA [Astrophysics Data System](/source/Astrophysics_Data_System) (ADS)
- [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode)

## References

1. ["Infrared Processing and Analysis Center"](http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/page/about). *www.ipac.caltech.edu*. Retrieved November 13, 2022.

1. ["NASA Exoplanet Archive"](http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/project/24). Cal Tech. Retrieved November 13, 2022.

1. ["NASA Exoplanet Archive - a Service of the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute"](https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/index.html). Cal Tech. Retrieved November 13, 2022.

1. ["2 Micron All Sky Survey"](https://www.ipac.caltech.edu/project/2mass). Retrieved November 13, 2022.

1. ["DSS Data Collection Atlas"](https://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/DSS/). *irsa.ipac.caltech.edu*. Retrieved 2022-11-13.

1. ["What's New with NED"](http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/help/whats_new.html). Cal Tech. Retrieved November 13, 2022.

## External links

- [NED](https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA%2FIPAC_Extragalactic_Database) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA%2FIPAC_Extragalactic_Database?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.