NGC 612

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NGC 612
NGC 612.png
Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 612
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Sculptor
Right ascension 01h 33m 57.74s [1]
Declination −36° 29′ 35.7″ [1]
Redshift 0.02977 ± 0.00010 [1]
Heliocentric radial velocity 8925 ± 29 km/s [1]
Distance 388×106 ly (119.33 ± 8.36 Mpc) [1]
Apparent magnitude  (V)13 [2]
Characteristics
Type S0a [3]
Size~122.43 kpc (diameter) [1]
Apparent size  (V)1.5 × 0.9 arcmin [4]
Notable featuresRare example of a non-elliptical radio galaxy
Other designations
MCG -06-04-046, PGC 5827 [5]

NGC 612 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation of Sculptor located approximately 388 million light-years from Earth. It is a type II Seyfert galaxy and thus has an active galactic nucleus. [1] [4] NGC 612 has been identified as an extremely rare example of a non-elliptical radio galaxy, hosting one of the nearest powerful FR-II radio sources. [6] [7]

Contents

Observation history

The object was discovered by British astronomer John Herschel on 29 November, 1837. [2] John Louis Emil Dreyer, compiler of the first New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, described NGC 612 as "faint, very small, round, 12th magnitude star to the west." [2]

Physical characteristics

Radio emission around NGC 612 NGC 612 in optical and radio wavelengths.png
Radio emission around NGC 612

NGC 612 has a fairly well-developed luminous disc seen almost edge-on and features a strong dust ring. [6] The galaxy is surrounded by an enormous disc of cool neutral hydrogen gas with a mass of 1.8×109 M☉ distributed in a 140 kpc wide structure along the galactic disc and dust lane of NGC 612. The majority of the gas is relatively settled in regular rotation with a velocity of 8900 km/s. A faint bridge, spanning 400 kpc, exists between NGC 612 and the gas-rich barred spiral galaxy NGC 619, indicating that an interaction between both galaxies occurred at some point. Current or past interaction, such as a merger event, is currently the most likely trigger of NGC 612's radio source. [7]

The supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center of NGC 612 has a mass with an upper limit of 3.2×109 M☉. [3]

The galaxy has an unusually young star population, with populations throughout the galactic disc having an age of ~0.04–0.1 Gyr. [7]

NGC 612 is one [8] of 5 (as of 2020) known lenticular galaxies that show large-scale radio emissions. Both spiral galaxies and lenticular galaxies rarely host large scale radio emissions. It is not understood why these type of galaxies are so rare. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 60</span> Elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo

Messier 60 or M60, also known as NGC 4649, is an elliptical galaxy approximately 57 million light-years away in the equatorial constellation of Virgo. Together with NGC 4647, it forms a pair known as Arp 116. Messier 60 and nearby elliptical galaxy Messier 59 were discovered by Johann Gottfried Koehler in April 1779, observing a comet in the same part of the sky. Charles Messier added both to his catalogue about three days after this.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 84</span> Galaxy in the constellation Virgo

Messier 84 or M84, also known as NGC 4374, is a giant elliptical or lenticular galaxy in the constellation Virgo. Charles Messier discovered the object in 1781 in a systematic search for "nebulous objects" in the night sky. It is the 84th object in the Messier Catalogue and in the heavily populated core of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, part of the local supercluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 1705</span> Galaxy in the constellation Pictor

NGC 1705 is a peculiar lenticular galaxy and a blue compact dwarf galaxy (BCD) in the southern constellation of Pictor, positioned less than a degree to the east of Iota Pictoris, and is undergoing a starburst. With an apparent visual magnitude of 12.6 it requires a telescope to observe. It is estimated to be approximately 17 million light-years from the Earth, and is a member of the Dorado Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 2787</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

NGC 2787 is a barred lenticular galaxy approximately 24 million light-years away in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. It was discovered on December 3, 1788 by German-born astronomer William Herschel. J. L. E. Dreyer described it as, "bright, pretty large, a little extended 90°, much brighter middle, mottled but not resolved, very small (faint) star involved to the southeast". The visible galaxy has an angular size of 2.5 × 1.5 arcminutes or 3.24 × 1.81 arcminutes and an apparent visual magnitude of 11.8.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4194</span> Interacting galaxy pair in the constellation of Ursa Major

NGC 4194, the Medusa merger, is a galaxy merger in the constellation Ursa Major about 128 million light-years (39.1 Mpc) away. It was discovered on April 2, 1791 by German-British astronomer William Herschel. Due to its disturbed appearance, it is object 160 in Halton Arp's 1966 Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4261</span> Galaxy in the constellation Virgo

NGC 4261 is an elliptical galaxy located around 100 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered April 13, 1784, by the German-born astronomer William Herschel. The galaxy is a member of its own somewhat meager galaxy group known as the NGC 4261 group, which is part of the Virgo Cluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4710</span> Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

NGC 4710 is an edge-on lenticular galaxy in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices. It was discovered on March 21, 1784 by German-British astronomer William Herschel. This galaxy has a B-band visual magnitude of 11.60 and an angular size of 3.0′ × 0.8′. It is located at a distance of 54.5 ± 3.6 million light-years (16.7 ± 1.1 Mpc) from the Milky Way, and is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 1,129 km/s. This is a member of the Virgo Cluster, with a projected offset of ~6° from the cluster center and a cluster crossing time of around two billion years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3862</span> Galaxy in the constellation Leo

NGC 3862 is an elliptical galaxy located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. Discovered by astronomer William Herschel on April 27, 1785, NGC 3862 is an outlying member of the Leo Cluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4424</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo

NGC 4424 is a spiral galaxy located in the equatorial constellation of Virgo. It was discovered February 27, 1865 by German astronomer Heinrich Louis d'Arrest. This galaxy is located at a distance of 13.5 million light years and is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 442 km/s. It has a morphological class of SB(s)a, which normally indicates a spiral galaxy with a barred structure (SB), no inner ring feature (s), and tightly-wound spiral arms (a). The galactic plane is inclined at an angle of 62° to the line of sight from the Earth. It is a likely member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 1060</span> Galaxy in the constellation Triangulum

NGC 1060 is a lenticular galaxy approximately 256 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Triangulum. It was discovered by William Herschel on September 12, 1784.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3311</span> Galaxy in the constellation Hydra

NGC 3311 is a super-giant elliptical galaxy located about 190 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. The galaxy was discovered by astronomer John Herschel on March 30, 1835. NGC 3311 is the brightest member of the Hydra Cluster and forms a pair with NGC 3309 which along with NGC 3311, dominate the central region of the Hydra Cluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 708</span> Galaxy in the constellation Andromeda

NGC 708 is an elliptical galaxy located 240 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda and was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on September 21, 1786. It is classified as a cD galaxy and is the brightest member of Abell 262. NGC 708 is a weak FR I radio galaxy and is also classified as a type 2 Seyfert galaxy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 1380</span> Galaxy in the constellation Fornax

NGC 1380 is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Fornax. It is located at a distance of circa 60 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 1380 is about 85,000 light years across. It was discovered by James Dunlop on September 2, 1826. It is a member of the Fornax Cluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 759</span> Galaxy in the constellation Andromeda

NGC 759 is an elliptical galaxy located 230 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. NGC 759 was discovered by astronomer by Heinrich d'Arrest on September 17, 1865. It is a member of Abell 262.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3665</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

NGC 3665 is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. It is located at a distance of circa 85 million light-years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 3665 is about 85,000 light years across. It was discovered by William Herschel on March 23, 1789.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4298</span> Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

NGC 4298 is a flocculent spiral galaxy located about 53 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. The galaxy was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on April 8, 1784 and is a member of the Virgo Cluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4513</span> Galaxy in the constellation Draco

NGC 4513 is a lenticular galaxy and a ring galaxy located about 110 million light-years away in the constellation Draco. It was discovered by astronomer Heinrich d'Arrest on October 16, 1866.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 5728</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Libra

NGC 5728 is an active barred spiral galaxy located 146 million light years away in the southern constellation of Libra. It was discovered on May 7, 1787 by William Herschel. The designation comes from the New General Catalogue of J. L. E. Dreyer, published in 1888. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 13.40 and spans an angle of 3.4 arcminutes. The galaxy shows a red shift of 0.00935 and has a heliocentric radial velocity of 2,803 km/s. It has an estimated mass of 72 billion times the mass of the Sun and stretches around 30 kpc across.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3998</span> Galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major

NGC 3998 is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered on April 14, 1789, by the astronomer William Herschel. At a distance of 45 million light-years, it is located relatively nearby, making it a well-studied object.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4324</span> Galaxy in the constellation of Virgo

NGC 4324 is a lenticular galaxy located about 85 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered by astronomer Heinrich d'Arrest on March 4, 1862. NGC 4324 has a stellar mass of 5.62 × 1010M☉, and a baryonic mass of 5.88 × 1010M☉. The galaxy's total mass is around 5.25 × 1011M☉. NGC 4324 is notable for having a ring of star formation surrounding its nucleus. It was considered a member of the Virgo II Groups until 1999, when its distance was recalculated and it was placed in the Virgo W Group.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "NGC 612 NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database Results". ned.ipac.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  2. 1 2 3 "New General Catalog Objects: NGC 600–649". cseligman.com. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  3. 1 2 Ruffa, Ilaria; Davis, Timothy A.; Cappellari, Michele; Bureau, Martin; Elford, Jacob; Iguchi, Satoru; Lelli, Federico; Liang, Fu-Heng; Liu, Lijie; Lu, Anan; Sarzi, Marc; Williams, Thomas G. (2023). "WISDOM project – XIV. SMBH mass in the early-type galaxies NGC 0612, NGC 1574, and NGC 4261 from CO dynamical modelling". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 522 (4): 6170–6195. arXiv: 2304.06117 . Bibcode:2023MNRAS.522.6170R. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stad1119 .
  4. 1 2 "Revised NGC Data for NGC 612". spider.seds.org. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  5. ↑ "NGC 612". SIMBAD . Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg . Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  6. 1 2 Véron-Cetty, M. P.; Véron, P. (2001). "Are all radio galaxies genuine ellipticals?". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 375 (3): 791–796. Bibcode:2001A&A...375..791V. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361:20010902 . ISSN   0004-6361.
  7. 1 2 3 Emonts, B. H. C.; Morganti, R.; Oosterloo, T. A.; Holt, J.; Tadhunter, C. N.; van der Hulst, J. M.; Ojha, R.; Sadler, E. M. (2008). "Enormous disc of cool gas surrounding the nearby powerful radio galaxy NGC 612 (PKS 0131−36)". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 387 (1): 197–208. arXiv: 0805.3371 . Bibcode:2008MNRAS.387..197E. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13142.x . ISSN   0035-8711. S2CID   7916786.
  8. ↑ Ekers, R. D.; Goss, W. M.; Kotanyi, C. G.; Skellern, D. J. (1978-10-01). "NGC 612-A Radio Galaxy with a Disk". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 69: L21. Bibcode:1978A&A....69L..21E. ISSN   0004-6361.
  9. ↑ Duchesne, S. W.; Johnston-Hollitt, M. (2019-04-01). "The remnant radio galaxy associated with NGC 1534". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 36: e016. arXiv: 1806.09255 . Bibcode:2019PASA...36...16D. doi:10.1017/pasa.2018.26. ISSN   1323-3580.
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