NGC 1439

NGC 1439 is an elliptical galaxy located in constellation of Eridanus. Situated about 77 million light years away, it is a member of the Eridanus cluster of galaxies, a cluster of about 200 galaxies. It was discovered by William Herschel on 9 December 1784.

NGC 1439
Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 1439
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationEridanus
Right ascension03h 44.498m [1]
Declination−21° 55′[1]
Redshift1668 ± 8
Distance23.5 Mpc (76.6 Mly)
Apparent magnitude (V)11.4[1]
Characteristics
TypeE1[1]
Apparent size (V)2.4′ × 2.2′[1]

NGC 1439 has a Hubble classification of E1, which indicates it is an elliptical galaxy with no extensions. It is moving from away from the Milky Way at a rate of 1,668 km/s. Its size on the night sky is 2.4' x 2.2' which is proportional to its real size of 54 000 ly.

NGC 1439 is an early-type galaxy. Despite their name, early-type galaxies are much older than spiral galaxies, and mostly comprise old, red-colored stars. Very little star formation occurs in these galaxies; the lack of star formation in elliptical galaxies appears to start at the center and then slowly propagates outward.[2]

Most of the galaxies like NGC 1439 are poor with dust. Howewer NGC 1439 contains more dust than usual.[3]

NGC 1439 (HST)

References
  1. Dunlop, Storm (2005). Atlas of the Night Sky. Collins. ISBN 978-0-00-717223-8.
  2. Howell, Elizabeth (2015). "Colossal Ancient Galaxies Die from the Inside Out". space.com. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  3. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/301440/pdf
  • Media related to NGC 1439 at Wikimedia Commons


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