Jimi Lowrey
October 31st, 2016, 07:36 PM
NGC 278
Cassiopeia
RA
00 52 04
DEC
+47 33 00
MAG 11.5 B
Type SAB(rs)b
--------------------------------------
NGC 278 is one unusual galaxy. It's a star burst galaxy with a nuclear ring without a bar. It even has a SAB designation. NGC 278 was found by Hershel on DEC 11, 1786 with his 18.7" reflector. It is thought to have had a merger with a gas rich galaxy and that is what is the cause of the star burst activity. It is really isolated and its nearest neighbor is the dwarf galaxy UGC 672 and there is no sign of it interacting with NGC 278. This is a link to the 2008 paper on NGC 278 https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0405107v1.pdf and here are the conclusions from the paper.
1. NGC 278 is a small face-on spiral galaxy, of optical diam-
eter only 7.2 kpc. Most of this disk is not actively forming
stars, and the SF is concentrated within the central 1.5 kpc
radius.
2. The massive circumnuclear SF is organised in a nuclear
ring, which contains a set of patchy spiral arms. The H
α
velocity field shows some streaming motions due to these
spiral arms.
3. The nuclear ring in NGC 278 is not particularly large in
absolute terms (radius of one kpc) but is at least twice as
large as other nuclear rings when its size relative to that of
the host galaxy is considered, or its size relative to the sca
le
length of the disk of its host galaxy.
4. We find no evidence for the presence of a bar in NGC 278,
at any scale
Hubble image
2333
I have observed NGC 278 several times the last two months and in the above image on the upper left you see two star forming knots that are really obvious in the eyepiece. The spiral arms look to have sharp edges and there are several bright patches inside the galaxy. A few nights ago I observed it with Steve Gottlieb and Howard Banich. I told them that it looked to my eye like a ninja throwing star with it's square looking shape and sharp spiral arms. They agreed with me that it had that appearance. I would like to know if you think NGC 278 looks like a ninja star to you.
2334
So Give it a Go and let us Know!
Cassiopeia
RA
00 52 04
DEC
+47 33 00
MAG 11.5 B
Type SAB(rs)b
--------------------------------------
NGC 278 is one unusual galaxy. It's a star burst galaxy with a nuclear ring without a bar. It even has a SAB designation. NGC 278 was found by Hershel on DEC 11, 1786 with his 18.7" reflector. It is thought to have had a merger with a gas rich galaxy and that is what is the cause of the star burst activity. It is really isolated and its nearest neighbor is the dwarf galaxy UGC 672 and there is no sign of it interacting with NGC 278. This is a link to the 2008 paper on NGC 278 https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0405107v1.pdf and here are the conclusions from the paper.
1. NGC 278 is a small face-on spiral galaxy, of optical diam-
eter only 7.2 kpc. Most of this disk is not actively forming
stars, and the SF is concentrated within the central 1.5 kpc
radius.
2. The massive circumnuclear SF is organised in a nuclear
ring, which contains a set of patchy spiral arms. The H
α
velocity field shows some streaming motions due to these
spiral arms.
3. The nuclear ring in NGC 278 is not particularly large in
absolute terms (radius of one kpc) but is at least twice as
large as other nuclear rings when its size relative to that of
the host galaxy is considered, or its size relative to the sca
le
length of the disk of its host galaxy.
4. We find no evidence for the presence of a bar in NGC 278,
at any scale
Hubble image
2333
I have observed NGC 278 several times the last two months and in the above image on the upper left you see two star forming knots that are really obvious in the eyepiece. The spiral arms look to have sharp edges and there are several bright patches inside the galaxy. A few nights ago I observed it with Steve Gottlieb and Howard Banich. I told them that it looked to my eye like a ninja throwing star with it's square looking shape and sharp spiral arms. They agreed with me that it had that appearance. I would like to know if you think NGC 278 looks like a ninja star to you.
2334
So Give it a Go and let us Know!