NGC 2608
Galaxy in the constellation Cancer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NGC 2608 (also known as Arp 12) is a barred spiral galaxy located 93 million light-years away in the constellation Cancer (the Crab). It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on 12 March 1785.[3] It spans 62,000 light-years, approximately 60% of the Milky Way's diameter. It is considered a grand design spiral galaxy and is classified as SB(s)b, meaning that the galaxy's arms wind moderately (neither tightly nor loosely) around the prominent central bar.
| NGC 2608 | |
|---|---|
 NGC 2608 imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope | |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Cancer |
| Right ascension | 08h 35m 17.3294s [1] |
| Declination | +28° 28′ 24.294″ [1] |
| Redshift | 0.007192±0.000009[1] |
| Heliocentric radial velocity | 2,156±3 km/s[1] |
| Distance | 93.0 Mly (28.5 Mpc) [2] |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 13.01 [1] |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | SB(s)b [1] |
| Size | ~59,300 ly (18.18 kpc) (estimated)[1] |
| Apparent size (V) | 2.3′ × 1.4′[1] |
| Other designations | |
| IRAS 08322+2838, Arp 12, UGC 4484, MCG +05-20-027, PGC 24111, CGCG 149-055[1] | |
It was classified under "galaxies with split arms" in the 1966 Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies by Halton Arp, who noted that the "nucleus may be double or superimposed star".[4] NGC 2608 is now thought to be a pair of interacting galaxies.[5]
Supernovae
- SN 1920A was discovered on 8 February 1920, with an apparent magnitude of 12.9, by German astronomer Max Wolf (1863–1932).[6] It reached peak brightness on 15 February 1920 at magnitude 12.05.[7] Its visual magnitude implies an overluminous bolometric magnitude; SN 1920A has since been classified as anomalous and is believed to be the result of "a completely different explosion mechanism."[8]
- SN 2001bg was discovered on 9 May 2001 (May 8.943 UT) by noted supernova hunter Tom Boles[9] of Coddenham, Suffolk, England, with a 0.36 m Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.[10] When first observed, it had an apparent magnitude of 14; it later peaked at around 13.7.[11] Its spectrum indicates that it is a typical Type Ia supernova.[12]
