VII Zw 31
Galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
VII Zw 31 is an ultraluminous infrared galaxy[2] located in the constellation of Camelopardalis. The redshift of the galaxy is (z) 0.053[1] and it was first discovered by the Swiss astronomer named Fritz Zwicky in 1971, whom he described it as a blue object with a compact spherical appearance.[3] It was also observed by J.H. Fairclough in March 1986 from an IRAS survey.[4]
| VII Zw 31 | |
|---|---|
VII Zw 31 captured with PanSTARRS | |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Camelopardalis |
| Right ascension | 05h 16m 46.44s[1] |
| Declination | +79° 40′ 12.43″[1] |
| Redshift | 0.053670[1] |
| Heliocentric radial velocity | 16,090 ± 9 km/s[1] |
| Distance | 781.4 ± 54.7 Mly (239.57 ± 16.77 Mpc)[1] |
| magnitude (J) | 12.73[1] |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | HII;LIRG[1] |
| Size | ~129,000 ly (39.4 kpc) (estimated)[1] |
| Other designations | |
| IRAS 05083+7936, PGC 17034, NVSS J051646+794012, C-GOALS 03[1] | |
Description
VII Zw 31 is an irregular galaxy, depicted to have a fuzzy blob appearance. It has an object located 20 arcseconds in the northwest direction from it, either being described as a companion or a galaxy merger remnant.[5] Observations made by the near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer (NICMOS) abroad the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), found the galaxy has asymmetric spiral arms located in the central nucleus and multiple star clusters in its galactic disk.[6][7]
Evidence based on both color and surface brightness profiles, found the central regions of the galaxy display signs of reddening which is contributed by a presence of a dust lane.[2] There are also detections of narrow emission lines in its optical spectrum.[8] The star formation of the galaxy has been found to be calculated as 90 M☉ per year.[9]
A study in 1987 has found VII Zw 31 has detections of carbon oxide millimeter wave emission. When observed, the total luminosity of the emission is estimated to be 1.1 × 1010 Kelvin km s−1 pc2, making this 35 times more luminous as the carbon oxide millimeter wave emission in the Milky Way and most out of the observed galaxies. The total molecular hydrogen mass of the galaxy has been estimated as 5 × 1010 M☉.[10] A rotating molecular ring is suggested to be present inside the galaxy.[11]