juliensimon/hecate-nearby-galaxies

---
license: cc-by-4.0
pretty_name: "HECATE Nearby Galaxies"
language:
- en
description: "HECATE (Heraklion Extragalactic Catalogue): 204,733 galaxies within 200 Mpc with stellar masses, star formation rates, metallicity, morphology, and nuclear activity. Sourced from hecate.ia.forth.gr."
task_categories:
- tabular-classification
tags:
- space
- galaxies
- nearby-galaxies
- stellar-mass
- star-formation
- astronomy
- open-data
- tabular-data
size_categories:
- 100K<n<1M
configs:
- config_name: default
data_files:
- split: train
path: data/hecate_nearby_galaxies.parquet
default: true
---

# HECATE Nearby Galaxies

*Part of the [Astronomy Datasets](https://huggingface.co/collections/juliensimon/astronomy-datasets-69c24caf2f17e36128946743) collection on Hugging Face.*

The Heraklion Extragalactic Catalogue (HECATE) is a value-added catalog of **204,733**
galaxies within 200 Mpc, designed as a reference for multi-messenger astrophysics and the
study of the local universe. Published by Kovlakas et al. (2021, MNRAS, 506, 1896), HECATE
provides homogenised physical properties including stellar masses, star formation rates,
metallicities, morphological types, and nuclear activity classifications.

## Dataset description

HECATE aggregates data from HyperLEDA, 2MASS, IRAS, and other major surveys to provide
a uniform census of the nearby galaxy population. Each galaxy entry includes positional
data, distance estimates, photometry in multiple bands, and derived physical properties.
The catalog is particularly useful for identifying host galaxies of transient events
(gravitational waves, neutrinos, gamma-ray bursts) and for statistical studies of galaxy
properties in the local volume.

## Quick stats

- **204,733** galaxies within 200 Mpc
- **133,017** with stellar mass estimates
- **94,269** with star formation rates
- **136,267** with morphological classifications
- **0** with HI mass measurements
- **204,733** with nuclear activity classifications
- Median distance: **128.6 Mpc**

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/hecate-nearby-galaxies", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

# Massive galaxies (log stellar mass > 11)
massive = df[df["log_stellar_mass"] > 11]
print(f"{len(massive):,} massive galaxies")

# Star-forming galaxies within 50 Mpc
nearby_sf = df[(df["distance_mpc"] <= 50) & (df["log_sfr"].notna())]
print(f"{len(nearby_sf):,} nearby galaxies with SFR")

# Morphological type distribution
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
df["morphological_type"].dropna().hist(bins=30)
plt.xlabel("Morphological T-type")
plt.ylabel("Count")
plt.title("HECATE Galaxy Morphology Distribution")
```

## Data source

[HECATE](https://hecate.ia.forth.gr/) v1.1
(Kovlakas K., Zezas A., Andrews J.J., et al., 2021, MNRAS, 506, 1896),
downloaded directly from the authors' website at the Institute of Astrophysics, FORTH.

## Update schedule

Static dataset (fixed catalog release). No scheduled updates.

## Related datasets

- [cosmicflows-galaxy-distances](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/cosmicflows-galaxy-distances) -- Cosmicflows-4 galaxy distances
- [messier-catalog](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/messier-catalog) -- Messier deep-sky objects
- [ngc-ic-catalog](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/ngc-ic-catalog) -- NGC/IC deep-sky catalog

## Pipeline

Source code: [juliensimon/space-datasets](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets)

## Citation

```bibtex
@dataset{hecate_nearby_galaxies,
author = {Simon, Julien},
title = {HECATE Nearby Galaxies},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Hugging Face},
url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/hecate-nearby-galaxies},
note = {Based on HECATE v1.1 (Kovlakas et al. 2021, MNRAS, 506, 1896) from hecate.ia.forth.gr}
}
```

## License

[CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)