NGC 5907

NGC 5907

NGC 5907 and its looping stellar stream. Image courtesy of R. Jay GaBany
Observation data
Constellation Draco
Right ascension 15h 15m 53s[1]
Declination +56° 19 40[1]
Redshift 0.002225[1]
Helio radial velocity 667 ± 3 km/s[1]
Distance 53.5 ± 8.1 Mly
(16.4 ± 2.5 Mpc)[2]
Apparent magnitude (V) 11.1[1]
Characteristics
Type Sb+
Apparent size (V) 12.7' x 1.4'[1]
Other designations
H II.759, GC 4087, h 1917, Splinter Galaxy

NGC 5907 (also known as Knife Edge Galaxy or Splinter Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy located approximately 50 million light years from Earth.[2] It has an anomalously low metallicity and few detectable giant stars, being apparently composed almost entirely of dwarf stars.[3] It is a member of the NGC 5866 Group.

NGC 5907 has long been considered a prototypical example of a warped spiral in relative isolation. In 2006, an international team of astronomers announced the presence of an extended tidal stream surrounding the galaxy that challenges this picture and suggests the gravitational perturbations induced by the stream progenitor may be the cause for the warp.

The galaxy was discovered in 1788 by William Herschel. Supernova 1940A was in this galaxy.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 5907. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
  2. 1 2 "Distance Results for NGC 5907". NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
  3. Liu, M. C.; Marleau, F. R.; Graham, J. R.; Charlot, S.; Sackett, P.; Zepf, S. E. (December 1998). "Weighing the Stellar Content of NGC 5907's Dark Matter Halo". Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. 30: 1258. Bibcode:1998AAS...193.0807L.
  4. "List of Supernovae". Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (IAU). Retrieved 2010-07-11.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to NGC 5907.
NGC 5907, 24 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon

Coordinates: 15h 15m 53.8s, +56° 19′ 44″

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.