NGC 908
Galaxy in the constellation Cetus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NGC 908 is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus.[1] It was discovered on 20 September 1786 by William Herschel.[4] This galaxy is 56 million light years away from Earth. It is the main galaxy in the NGC 908 group, which also includes NGC 899, NGC 907, and IC 223.[5]
| NGC 908 | |
|---|---|
NGC 908 imaged by the Very Large Telescope of ESO. | |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Cetus[1] |
| Right ascension | 02h 23m 04.6s[2] |
| Declination | −21° 14′ 02″[2] |
| Redshift | 1,509±5 km/s[2] |
| Distance | 56.0 ± 5.7 Mly (17.2 ± 1.7 Mpc)[2] |
| Group or cluster | NGC 908 group |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 10.2[1] |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | SA(s)c [2] |
| Apparent size (V) | 6.1′ × 2.7′[1] |
| Other designations | |
| UGCA 27, MCG -04-06-035, PGC 9057[3] | |
Appearance
NGC 908 has vigorous star formation and is a starburst galaxy. The galaxy has a three-arm spiral pattern; two of its arms have peculiar morphology. The galaxy has a bright central bulge. Clusters of young stars and star-forming knots can be seen in the arms. Starburst activity and the peculiar morphology of the galaxy indicate it had a close encounter with another galaxy, although none are visible now.[6]
Variable stars
Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 908:
- SN 1994ai (Type Ic, mag. 17) was discovered by Robert McNaught on 20 December 1994.[7][8]
- SN 2006ce (Type Ia, mag. 12.4) was discovered by Berto Monard on 10 May 2006.[9][10]
Also, one luminous blue variable has been observed in this galaxy: AT 2021ablz (type LBV, mag. 20.6) was discovered by Pan-STARRS on 14 October 2021.[11]
