NGC 945
Galaxy in the constellation Cetus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NGC 945 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus,[1] located south of the celestial equator. It is estimated to be 200 million light-years from the Milky Way, and about 135,000 light-years in diameter.[2] The object was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on November 28, 1785. It is near NGC 948, with which it forms a gravitationally bound pair of galaxies. In the same area of the sky there are the galaxies NGC 942, NGC 943, NGC 950, and IC 230.
| NGC 945 | |
|---|---|
NGC 945 (right) and NGC 948 (left) | |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Right ascension | 02h 28m 36s |
| Declination | -10° 32′ 20″ |
| Apparent magnitude (B) | 1202h 28m 36s |
| Surface brightness | 23.01 mag/arcsec2 |
| Other designations | |
| IRAS 02261-1045, 2MASX J02283732-1032211, MCG -02-07-013, PGC 009426 | |
NGC 948
NGC 948 is a spiral galaxy located extremely close to NGC 945.[3] Its speed relative to the cosmic microwave background is 4,259 ± 17 km/s,[4] which corresponds to a Hubble distance of 62.8 ± 4.4 Mpc (~205 million ly). NGC 948 was discovered by American astronomer Lewis Swift in 1886. The luminosity class of NGC 948 is III and it has a broad HI line. With a surface brightness equal to 14.17 mag/am2, NGC 948 is classified as a low surface brightness galaxy (LSB).[5]
Supernovae
Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 945: