NGC 262

NGC 262 (also known as Markarian 348) is a huge spiral galaxy in the cluster LGG 14.[1] It is a Seyfert 2 spiral galaxy located 287 million light years away in the constellation Andromeda.[2] It was discovered on September 17, 1885 by Lewis A. Swift.

NGC 262
NGC 262 as imaged by the SDSS.
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationAndromeda
Right ascension 00h 48m 47.14154s[1]
Declination+31° 57′ 25.08″[1]
Distance287 million light-years (88 Mpc)[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)13.1
Characteristics
TypeS0a
Apparent size (V)1,1' × 1,1'
Other designations
2MASX J00484711+3157249, UGC 499, Markarian 348 [1]

Size

This galaxy has an apparent diameter of approximately 1.3 million light-years, occupying 1.1' of the Earth's sky.[3] It holds approximately 15 trillion stars. NGC 262 was tidally disturbed by the gravitational forces of smaller galaxies, which resulted in its large size.[3]

NGC 262 is very unusual, since it is 10 times larger than a regular spiral galaxy of its type.[2] According to Morris and Wannier, NGC 262 is surrounded by a huge cloud of neutral hydrogen[2] that is probably caused by the tidal stripping of smaller galaxies. The cloud has an apparent mass of approximately 50 billion solar masses[2] at a distance of 88 kiloparsecs (287,000 light-years) [2] from the nucleus of NGC 262 and extending up to 300 kiloparsecs (1 million light-years) away.[2] The cloud is spiral shaped with at least one arm, and possibly another one extending throughout the galaxy.

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References
  1. "SIMBAD query result". Basic data for NGC 262.
  2. Huchra, J. (May 15, 1980). "The optical properties of the unusual galaxy Markarian 348". The Astrophysical Journal. 238: 11–12. Bibcode:1980ApJ...238L..11H. doi:10.1086/183246.
  3. "The New York Times". Distant galaxy found to be largest known. 1987-03-13.
  • Media related to NGC 262 at Wikimedia Commons


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