Astronomy:NGC 1376

From HandWiki
Short description: Galaxy in the constellation Eridanus
NGC 1376
NGC 1376.jpg
A Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of NGC 1376
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationEridanus
Right ascension 03h 37m 05.80s[1]
Declination−05° 02′ 36″[1]
Redshift0.013873±0.00003[1]
Distance180 Mly (55.1 Mpc)[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)12.1[2]
Characteristics
TypeSA(s)cd[1]
Size71,000 ly
Apparent size (V)1.95 x 1.82[3]
Notable featuresOlder stars near core
Other designations
IRAS 03346-0512,[1] MCG-01-10-011,[1] PGC 13352,[1] GSC 04722-00875[1]

NGC 1376 is a spiral galaxy located around 180 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus.[1] It was discovered in 1785 by William Herschel, and it is 79,000 light-years across.[1] NGC 1376 is not known to have an active galactic nuclei, but it does have lots of star-forming regions.[2][3]

Characteristics

Concentrated along the spiral arms of NGC 1376, bright blue knots of gas highlight areas of active star formation.[4] These regions show an excess of light at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths because they contain brilliant clusters of hot, newborn stars that are emitting UV light.[2] The less intense, red areas near the core and between the arms consist mainly of older stars.[4][2] The reddish dust lanes delineate cooler, denser regions where interstellar clouds collapse to form new stars.[1] Behind the spiral arms is a sprinkling of reddish background galaxies.[2]

NGC 1376 belongs to a class of spirals that are seen nearly face on from our line of sight.[1] Its orientation aids astronomers in studying details and features of the galaxy from a relatively unobscured vantage point.[2]

NGC 1376 is home to a supernova (SN 1990go)[2] that rivaled the brightness of the entire nucleus (as seen from ground-based telescopes) for several weeks. This was observed in 1990.[2][3]

References

External links