NGC 1187 — Sc in Eridanus
Sc in Eridanus, 4.2 arcminutes across, its light 67 million years old. Measured by HyperLEDA, photographed by Pan-STARRS1. Recorded once.
About NGC 1187
What you are looking at
NGC 1187 is a late-type spiral: a small central bulge and open, loosely wound arms full of young stars and star-forming gas. It is tilted about 44° to our line of sight, enough to show both the shape of its arms and the depth of its disc. From edge to edge its visible disc spans about 81,000 light-years (taking its redshift distance, which for a galaxy this near is approximate), about 82% of the Milky Way’s width.
What astronomers have recorded
SIMBAD, the reference database astronomers use, classes it as a Seyfert galaxy: its nucleus shines brightly with the light of gas falling into its central black hole. One supernova has been recorded in it: SN 1982R. It is cited in 231 scientific papers indexed by SIMBAD, and recorded there under 27 different catalogue designations.
When this light set out
Its light has been travelling for about 67 million years. When it left, dinosaurs were at their peak. The galaxy is moving away from us at about 1,391 km/s (3.1 million mph), carried by the expansion of the universe. For a galaxy this close, its own motion through space is a large share of that speed, so the distance worked out from it is approximate; distances measured from individual stars in it can differ.
Finding it in the sky
In the sky, NGC 1187 sits within the constellation Eridanus. It is best placed on winter evenings: around 9:30 pm in December it stands about 27° high in the south, seen from the middle of the United States.
Its neighbours
At almost the same distance from us, and so its neighbours in space as well as on the sky: IC 1898 (1.8° away on the sky, at least 2,140,000 light-years from it); NGC 1232 (2.8° away on the sky, at least 3,290,000 light-years from it); NGC 1258 (2.9° away on the sky, at least 3,340,000 light-years from it).
By apparent size it is number 214 of the 12,657 galaxies on the Galaxy Origins register.
Measurements
| Catalogue | PGC 11479 |
|---|---|
| Morphological type | Sc |
| Angular diameter | 4.16′ |
| Right ascension | 03h02m37.6s |
| Declination | -22°52′01.9″ |
| Constellation | Eridanus |
| Inclination | 44.1° |
| Light travel time | 67 million years |
| Bar | yes, from the catalogue |
Check every figure above in the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database
What is sold
A print of this galaxy and the record of the calculation, once. When it sells it leaves the register and is not offered again. We assign no names and no ownership — nobody can sell you those.
At 4.2 arcminutes this is a Exceptional galaxy, which is the tier where a real photograph shows clear structure and dust lanes. The tier comes from the measured diameter, not from a price list.
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