NGC 2768

NGC 2768

Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Ursa Major
Right ascension 09h 11m 37.5s[1]
Declination 60° 02 14[1]
Redshift 1353 ± 5 km/s[1]
Distance 63.5 ± 11.8 Mly (19.5 ± 3.6 Mpc)[1]
Type S0 1/2 [1]
Apparent dimensions (V) 8.1 × 4.3[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 9.9
Other designations
UGC 4821, PGC 25915[1]

NGC 2768 is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation of Ursa Major. It is at a distance of 65 million light years from Earth. NGC 2768 is an example of a Seyfert galaxy, an object with a supermassive black hole at its centre. A dusty structure is encircling the centre of the galaxy, forming a knotted ring around the galaxy’s brightly glowing middle. This ring lies perpendicular to the plane of NGC 2768 itself, stretching up and out of the galaxy. The dust in NGC 2768 forms an intricate network of knots and filaments.[2]

In the centre of the galaxy are two tiny, S-shaped symmetric jets. These two flows of material travel outwards from the galactic centre along curved paths, and are masked by the tangle of dark dust lanes that spans the body of the galaxy. These jets are a sign of a very active centre, where lies a supermassive black hole. This speeds up and sucks in gas from the nearby space, creating a stream of material swirling inwards towards the black hole known as an accretion disc. This disk throws off material in very energetic outbursts, creating structures like the jets.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 2768. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  2. 1 2 Dusty detail in elliptical galaxy NGC 2768 8 April 2013, ESA/Hubble & NASA

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, February 14, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.