NGC 1278
Galaxy in the constellation Perseus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NGC 1278 is an elliptical galaxy located about 230 million light-years away[2] in the constellation Perseus.[3] NGC 1278 was discovered by astronomer Heinrich d'Arrest on February 14, 1863. It was then rediscovered by astronomer Guillaume Bigourdan on October 22, 1884, and later listed as IC 1907.[4] NGC 1278 is a member of the Perseus Cluster[5][4] and is a low-luminosity AGN (LLAGN).[6]
| NGC 1278 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Perseus |
| Right ascension | 03h 19m 54.1376s[1] |
| Declination | +41° 33′ 48.212″[1] |
| Redshift | 0.020314[1] |
| Heliocentric radial velocity | 6090 km/s[1] |
| Distance | 226.74 ± 23.31 Mly (69.518 ± 7.147 Mpc)[1] |
| Group or cluster | Perseus Cluster |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 13.57[1] |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | E pec[1] |
| Size | ~128,600 ly (39.43 kpc) (estimated)[1] |
| Apparent size (V) | 1.5′ × 1.3′[1] |
| Other designations | |
| IC 1907, UGC 2670, MCG +07-07-065, PGC 12438, CGCG 540-105[1] | |
One supernova has been observed in NGC 1278: SN 2016ajf (Type Ia-91bg-like, mag. 16.9) was discovered by Kōichi Itagaki on February 18, 2016.[7]
Globular clusters
Unlike the nearby galaxy NGC 1277 which has a dominant population of metal-rich or “red” globular clusters, NGC 1278 has a rich population of both metal-rich and metal-poor or “blue” globular clusters.[8]
