5 Magnificent Galaxies - Facts & Information

 1. Pinwheel Galaxy

Image source-google | Image by- Singh.kd81 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Pinwheel_Galaxy_-_M101.jpg

Even the name of this galaxy makes it very special. It seems to be one of the most beautiful structures in the universe. It also knows as a name of Messier 101 or M 101. It is a face-on spiral galaxy that is 21 million light years away from us. Pinwheel Galaxy was first discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain. Such a structure makes it very special and different from other galaxies. Its properties are very similar to the Andromeda Galaxy.

Facts:

1. A very detailed image of this galaxy was released by the Hubble Space Telescope on February 28, 2006. It was released by NASA and ESA.

2. This galaxy contains many more stars than the Milky Way galaxy. The Pinwheel Galaxy is estimated to have more than a trillion stars, twice as many as our Milky Way galaxy.

3. Scientists estimate that it may contain about 150 globular clusters. The number of globular clusters in our galaxy is about the same.

4. This huge galaxy has a diameter of 170,000 and is also present in the constellation Ursa Major.

2. Triangulum Galaxy

This spiral galaxy exists at a distance of about 2.73 million light years from our galaxy, and It is also known as Messier 33.This galaxy is located in the constellation Triangulum. It is not known who discovered it first. But it is estimated that the Triangulum Galaxy was discovered by Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hadierna before 1654. Such a structure of this galaxy makes it one of the most amazing galaxies.

Facts:

1. This galaxy is one of the few permanent objects that can be seen with the naked eye despite being so far away from us.

2. According to scientists, this galaxy may have up to 40 billion stars.

3. The Triangulum galaxy is a small spiral galaxy about 60,000 light years in diameter.

4. Messier 33 is the third largest galaxy in the local group of galaxies after the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy.

3. NGC 278

Image source-google | Image by- ESA/Hubble &NASA,D.Leonard https://esahubble.org/images/potw2013a/

The third coming galaxy is also a spiral galaxy. There is no doubt that this seems to be a beautiful work of art in the universe. It is located at a distance of 39 mega light years from our Milky Way galaxy. A mega light-year means 1,000,000 light-years. This galaxy was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on December 11, 1786. At the same time this spiral isolated galaxy is actually present in the circumpolar constellation of Cassiopeia. It is also known as UGC 528 and PGC 3051. Its fluffy arms make it very special which is very shiny and due to a dusty nucleus it is difficult to know more about it.

Facts:

1. This galaxy is a small spiral galaxy with a diameter of only 22.80 light-years.

2. Neutral hydrogen in the NGC 278 galaxy spreads over a fairly large portion. It may surprise you that this gas is spread in a diameter five times its size.

3. The nucleus of this galaxy is the H11 region. This region contains ionized interstellar atomic hydrogen.

4. This galaxy is part of the Virgo Super Cluster and may be more than 13 billion years old.

4. NGC 4639

Image source-google | Image by- Donald Pelletier https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NGC_4639_SDSS.jpg

Like NCC 278, the galaxy was discovered by William Herschel on April 12, 1784. Its distance from our Milky Way is about 72 million light-years. This galaxy is part of the Virgo cluster and at the same time morphological classification has given it the status of SAB (rs) bc type galaxy. In morphological classification, astronomers divide galaxies into different parts according to their shape. It is actually a barred spiral galaxy that appears to be one of the most unbelievable galactic objects in the universe because Its creation is very amazing in itself. This galaxy is named after NGC 4639 as well as IRAS 12403 +1331 and VCC 1943.

Facts:

1. NGC 4639 is part of the galaxy Virgo galaxy cluster.

2. This galaxy is present in Virgo constellation.

3. A very supermassive black hole has been discovered in the centre of the VCC 1943 galaxy, the mass of which can be approximately equal to 7.9×106solar masses.

4. Its apparent magnitude is +12.2, despite being 72 million light-years from us.

5. Virgo A

Also known as M87 and Messier 87, this galaxy is a super giant elliptical galaxy. This galaxy exists in the constellation Virgo and was discovered by Charles Messier who was a French astronomer, which was recorded as a nebula at the time. It is 53 million light-years from Earth and M87 is one of the most massive galaxies in the local universe. What make this galaxy special are the jets of very energetic plasma emanating from its core. In addition, the number of globular clusters in this galaxy is very large.

Facts:

1. Plasma jets emanating from the centre of NGC 4486 or Messier 87 extend a distance of about 5,000 light years.

2. The number of stars in it is estimated to be around one trillion.

3. There are 12000 globular clusters in M87.

4. A very supermassive black hole M87 at the centre of this galaxy was photographed by scientists in April 2017.