NGC 1260

NGC 1260 is a spiral or lenticular galaxy^[3] located 250 million light years away from earth in the constellation Perseus.^[4] It was discovered by astronomer Guillaume Bigourdan on 19 October 1884.^[5] NGC 1260 is a member of the Perseus Cluster^[6][3] and forms a tight pair with the galaxy PGC 12230.^[3] This galaxy is dominated by a population of many old stars.^[7]

NGC 1260
NGC 1260 imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Perseus
Right ascension	03h 17m 27.2s[1]
Declination	+41° 24′ 19″[1]
Redshift	0.01919[1]
Heliocentric radial velocity	5753 ± 14 km/s[1]
Distance	250 ± 1.6 Mly (76.7 ± 0.5 Mpc)[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)	14.3[1]
Characteristics
Type	S0/a[1]
Apparent size (V)	1.1′ × 0.5′[1]
Other designations
UGC 02634, PGC 012219, MCG +07-07-047[1]

In 2006, it was home to the second brightest supernova in the observable universe, supernova SN 2006gy. This supernova was the most energetic and brightest supernova on record so far.^[8]

Supernova 2006gy imaged by the Swift spacecraft

References

1. "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 1260. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
2. "Distance Results for NGC 1260". NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
3. Hakobyan, A. A.; Petrosian, A. R.; McLean, B.; Kunth, D.; Allen, R. J.; Turatto, M.; Barbon, R. (24 June 2008). "Early-type galaxies with core collapse supernovae". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 488 (2): 523–531. arXiv:0806.4269. Bibcode:2008A&A...488..523H. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200809817. ISSN 0004-6361. S2CID 17273642.
4. "Revised NGC Data for NGC 1260". spider.seds.org. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
5. "New General Catalog Objects: NGC 1250 – 1299". cseligman.com. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
6. Brunzendorf, J.; Meusinger, H. (1 October 1999). "The galaxy cluster Abell 426 (Perseus). A catalogue of 660 galaxy positions, isophotal magnitudes and morphological types". Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series. 139 (1): 141–161. Bibcode:1999A&AS..139..141B. doi:10.1051/aas:1999111. ISSN 0365-0138.
7. Ofek, E. O.; Cameron, P. B.; Kasliwal, M. M.; Gal-Yam, A.; Rau, A.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Frail, D. A.; Chandra, P.; Cenko, S. B.; Soderberg, A. M.; Immler, S. (1 April 2007). "SN 2006gy: An Extremely Luminous Supernova in the Galaxy NGC 1260". The Astrophysical Journal. 659: L13–L16. Bibcode:2007ApJ...659L..13O. doi:10.1086/516749. ISSN 0004-637X.
8. Ker Than (7 May 2007). "Astronomers Astonished by 'Monstrous' Star Explosion". Space.com. Retrieved 26 November 2023.

External links

• Media related to NGC 1260 at Wikimedia Commons
• Brightest object found in NGC 1260 (Space.com : 7 May 2007)
• http://www.solstation.com/x-objects/sn2006gy.htm
• NGC 1260 on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images