At least two techniques have been used to measure distances to NGC 185. The surface brightness fluctuations distance measurement technique estimates distances to galaxies based on the graininess of their appearance. The distance measured to NGC 185 using this technique is 2.08 ± 0.15 Mly (640 ± 50 kpc).[3] However, NGC 185 is close enough that the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) method may be used to estimate its distance. The estimated distance to NGC 185 using this technique is 2.02 ± 0.2 Mly (620 ± 60 kpc).[4][5]
Star formation
Martínez-Delgado, Aparicio, & Gallart (1999) looked into the star formation history of NGC 185 and found that the majority of star formation in NGC 185 happened at early times.[8] In the last ~1 Gyr, stars have formed only near the center of this galaxy. Walter Baade discovered young blue objects within this galaxy in 1951, but these have turned out to be star clusters and not individual stars. A supernova remnant near the center was also discovered by Martínez-Delgado et al.[9]
^Ho, Luis C.; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Sargent, Wallace L. W. (October 1997). "A Search for 'Dwarf' Seyfert Nuclei. III. Spectroscopic Parameters and Properties of the Host Galaxies". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 112 (2): 315–390. arXiv:astro-ph/9704107. Bibcode:1997ApJS..112..315H. doi:10.1086/313041. S2CID17086638.