Fornax dwarf galaxy
Galaxy Fornax dwarf galaxy |
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Image of the Fornax dwarf galaxy | |
AladinLite | |
Constellation | Chemical furnace |
Position equinox : J2000.0 , epoch : J2000.0 |
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Right ascension | 02 h 39 m 59 s |
declination | -34 ° 26 ′ 57 ″ |
Appearance | |
Morphological type | dE2 |
Brightness (visual) | +9.3 mag |
Physical data | |
Affiliation | Local group |
Redshift | (1.63 ± 0.30) · 10 −4 |
Radial velocity | (49 ± 9) km / s |
distance | 450,000 ly |
history | |
discovery | Harlow Shapley |
Discovery date | 1938 |
Catalog names | |
PGC 10093 • ESO 356-04 • MCG -06-07-001 • |
The Fornax dwarf galaxy (catalog designations ESO 356-04 and MCG -06-07-001 ) is a small elliptical galaxy ( type dE2) in the constellation Fornax (Fornax). It belongs to the Local Group and is one of the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way .
properties
The Fornax dwarf galaxy is only 450,000 light years away and has a magnitude of +9.3 mag. Because of its very low surface brightness , the Fornax dwarf galaxy was only discovered on photographic plates by Harlow Shapley in 1938 . To do this, he used a 24-inch reflector telescope at the Boyden Observatory in South Africa . Although the dwarf galaxy in the night sky has twice the diameter of the full moon , i.e. a width of about 1 degree, it cannot be visually observed with the telescope. It only becomes visible in long-exposure photographs .
The dwarf galaxy contains six globular clusters . The largest of these, NGC 1049 , was discovered before the galaxy itself.
A significant number of Fornax's stars are older than 10 billion years ; in an epoch 3–4 billion years ago there was another strong star formation .
gallery
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b SIMBAD Database .
- ↑ a b c SEDS .
- ^ Coleman, Matthew G .; de Jong, Jelte TA: A Deep Survey of the Fornax dSph. I. Star Formation History , bibcode : 2008ApJ ... 685..933C .