NGC 3079

NGC 3079

A Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of NGC 3079.
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Ursa Major
Right ascension 10h 01m 57.8s[1]
Declination +55° 40′ 47″[1]
Redshift 1116 ± 1 km/s[1]
Distance 50 Mly[2]
Apparent magnitude (V) 11.5[1]
Characteristics
Type SB(s)c[1]
Apparent size (V) 7′.9 × 1′.4[1]
Other designations
UGC 5387,[1] PGC 29050[1]

NGC 3079 is a barred spiral galaxy about 50 million light-years away, and located in the constellation Ursa Major. A prominent feature of this galaxy is the "bubble" forming in the very center (see picture at right).

Center Bubble

The bubble forming in the center of NGC 3079 is believed to be about 3000 light-years wide and to rise more than 3500 light-years above the disc of the galaxy. It is speculated that the bubble is being formed by particles streaming at high speeds, which were in turn caused by a large burst of star formation. This current bubble is thought to have been created about one million years ago, and computer modeling suggests that there is an ongoing cycle of forming bubbles, with a new bubble forming approximately every 10 million years.

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the lumpy bubble of hot gas located at the center of the NGC 3079 galaxy's disk

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to NGC 3079.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 3079. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
  2. ↑ "Burst of Star Formation Drives Bubble in Galaxy's Core - Fast Facts". Retrieved 2007-10-06.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.