NGC 1313

Summary

NGC 1313 (also known as the Topsy Turvy Galaxy[2]) is a field galaxy[3] and a irregular galaxy[4] discovered by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop on 27 September 1826.[5] It has a diameter of about 50,000 light-years, or about half the size of the Milky Way.[6]

NGC 1313
A Very Large Telescope (VLT) image of NGC 1313.
Credit: ESO.
Observation data (J2000.0 epoch)
ConstellationReticulum
Right ascension03h 18m 15.4s [1]
Declination−66° 29′ 50″ [1]
Redshift0.001568 [1]
Distance12.886 Mly[1]
Characteristics
TypeSB(s)d[1]
Apparent size (V)9.1 x 7.1 arcmin[1]
Other designations
Topsy Turvy Galaxy, PGC 12286, ESO 082- G 011

NGC 1313 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.[7]

In 2007, a rare WO star was discovered in NGC 1313,[8] currently known by its only designation of [HC2007] 31. It is of spectral type WO3.[8] The derived absolute magnitude is about -5,[8] which is very high for a single WO star. (WOs usually have absolute magnitudes of about -1 to -4) This means that the WO is likely part of a binary or a small stellar association.[8]

Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 2841: SN 1962M (type II, mag. 11.7),[9] and SN 1978K (type II, mag. 16).[10]

Features edit

NGC 1313 has a strikingly uneven shape and its axis of rotation is not exactly in its centre.[11] NGC 1313 also shows strong starburst activity[12] and associated supershells.[13] NGC 1313 is dominated by scattered patches of intense star formation, which gives the galaxy a rather ragged appearance.[14] The uneven shape, the ragged appearance and the strong starburst can all be explained by a galactic collision in the past.[15] However, NGC 1313 seems to be an isolated galaxy and has no direct neighbours. Therefore, it is not clear whether it has swallowed a small companion in its past.[2]

Young, blue stars are scattered across the galaxy.[16] This is evidence of infant mortality in which the young open clusters quickly became gravitationally "unglued", scattering their resident stars into the galaxy.[17] The galaxy bears some resemblance to the Magellanic Clouds[18] and hosts two ultraluminous X-ray sources, called NGC 1313 X-1 and X-2.[19] The former is a rare intermediate-mass black hole.[20][21]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 1313. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b "The Topsy-Turvy Galaxy NGC 1313". ESO. 23 November 2006.
  3. ^ "Taking a narrow view of lopsided galaxy". Gemini Observatory. 21 May 2010. Archived from the original on 12 June 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  4. ^ Nemiroff, R.; Bonnell, J., eds. (7 August 2009). "The Star Clusters of NGC 1313". Astronomy Picture of the Day. NASA.
  5. ^ Courtney Seligman. "NGC 1313 (= PGC 12286)". Celestial Atlas. Archived from the original on 2015-06-12. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
  6. ^ Nemiroff, R.; Bonnell, J., eds. (30 March 2010). "Unusual Starburst Galaxy NGC 1313". Astronomy Picture of the Day. NASA.
  7. ^ "Nearby Groups of Galaxies". ned.ipac.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  8. ^ a b c d Hadfield, L. J.; Crowther, P. A. (2007-10-01). "A survey of the Wolf-Rayet population of the barred, spiral galaxy NGC 1313". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 381 (1): 418–432. arXiv:0708.2039. Bibcode:2007MNRAS.381..418H. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.12284.x. ISSN 0035-8711. S2CID 3024190.
  9. ^ Transient Name Server entry for SN 1962M. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  10. ^ Transient Name Server entry for SN 1957A. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  11. ^ Materne, J. (April 1979). "The structure of nearby groups of galaxies - Quantitative membership probabilities". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 74 (2): 235–243. Bibcode:1979A&A....74..235M.
  12. ^ "VLT Image of Starburst Galaxy NGC 1313". European Southern Observatory. 23 November 2006. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  13. ^ Suzuki; et al. (2013). "AKARI view of star formation in NGC 1313". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 554: A8. Bibcode:2013A&A...554A...8S. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201220294.
  14. ^ "NGC 1313". Astrosurf. 22 October 2006.
  15. ^ "Tumult in NGC 1313" (in German). Wissenschaft.de. 28 November 2006.
  16. ^ "Hubble Sees Star Cluster "Infant Mortality"". NASA. 10 January 2007. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  17. ^ Anne Pellerin; Martin Meyer; Jason Harris; Daniela Calzetti (2007). "Stellar Clusters in NGC 1313: Evidence of Infant Mortality". The Astrophysical Journal. 653 (2): L87–L90. arXiv:astro-ph/0702547. Bibcode:2007ApJ...658L..87P. doi:10.1086/515437. S2CID 5537525.
  18. ^ Mollá, Mercedes; Roy, Jean-René (1 April 1999). "Modeling the Radial Abundance Distribution of the Transition Galaxy NGC 1313". The Astrophysical Journal. 514 (2): 781–786. arXiv:astro-ph/9903129. Bibcode:1999ApJ...514..781M. doi:10.1086/306982. S2CID 18874798.
  19. ^ Matteo Bachetti; et al. (2013). "The Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources NGC 1313 X-1 and X-2: A Broadband Study with NuSTAR and XMM-Newton". The Astrophysical Journal. 778 (2): 163. arXiv:1310.0745. Bibcode:2013ApJ...778..163B. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/778/2/163. S2CID 28161179.
  20. ^ Dheeraj Pasham; et al. (2015). "Evidence for High-Frequency QPOs with a 3:2 Frequency Ratio from a 5000 Solar Mass Black Hole". The Astrophysical Journal. 811 (1): L11. arXiv:1601.02628. Bibcode:2015ApJ...811L..11P. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/811/1/L11. S2CID 33907571.
  21. ^ "Intermediate-Mass Black Hole 5,000 Times Mass of Sun". Sci-News.com. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2016.

External links edit

  •   Media related to NGC 1313 at Wikimedia Commons