Astronomy:NGC 376
| NGC 376 | |
|---|---|
 Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 376 | |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Tucana |
| Right ascension | 01h 03m 50.21s[1] |
| Declination | −72° 49′ 33.5″[1] |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 10.90[1] |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Mass | 3,400±400[2] M☉ |
| Estimated age | 28±7[3] Myr |
| Other designations | ESO 029-SC 029.[4] |
NGC 376 is a young[2] open cluster of stars in the southern constellation of Tucana. It was discovered on September 2, 1826, by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop. Dreyer, a Danish/British astronomer, described it as a "globular cluster, bright, small, round."[5] It is irregular in form, with a central spike.[2]
The cluster is located in the eastern extension of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a nearby dwarf galaxy. It may have already lost 90% of its original mass and is in the process of dissolving into the SMC. As a result, it has achieved a relatively low concentration of stars and is no longer in dynamic equilibrium. The cluster is about 28[3] million years old and contains ~3,400 times the mass of the Sun.[2] It has a core radius of 7.6 ± 0.3 ly and a tidal radius of 19.2 ± 0.7 ly.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Rafelski, Marc; Zaritsky, Dennis (June 2005). "The Star Clusters of the Small Magellanic Cloud: Age Distribution". The Astronomical Journal 129 (6): 2701–2713. doi:10.1086/424938. Bibcode: 2005AJ....129.2701R.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Perren, G. I. et al. (June 2017). "Astrophysical properties of star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds homogeneously estimated by ASteCA". Astronomy & Astrophysics 602: 42. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629520. A89. Bibcode: 2017A&A...602A..89P.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Sabbi, E. et al. (September 2011). "Is the Young Star Cluster NGC 376 Dissolving in the Field of the Small Magellanic Cloud?". The Astrophysical Journal 739 (1): 10. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/739/1/15. 15. Bibcode: 2011ApJ...739...15S.
- ↑ "NGC 376". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=NGC+376.
- ↑ "New General Catalog Objects: NGC 350 - 399". Cseligman. http://cseligman.com/text/atlas/ngc3.htm#376.
External links
- "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 0376. http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/objsearch?objname=NGC+376&extend=no&hconst=73&omegam=0.27&omegav=0.73&corr_z=1&out_csys=Equatorial&out_equinox=J2000.0&obj_sort=RA+or+Longitude&of=pre_text&zv_breaker=30000.0&list_limit=5&img_stamp=YES.
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