NGC 3184
NGC 3184, the Little Pinwheel Galaxy, is an unbarred spiral galaxy approximately 40 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Its name comes from its resemblance to the Pinwheel Galaxy. It was discovered on 18 March 1787 by German-British astronomer William Herschel. It has two HII regions named NGC 3180 and NGC 3181. NGC 3184 houses a high abundance of heavy elements. The blue color of its spiral arms comes mostly from relatively few bright young blue stars. The bright stars that highlight the arms were created in huge density waves that circle the center. Structure NGC 3184 has two prominent spiral arms. They have constant pitch angles, which makes them both symmetrical. Supernovae and Astronomical Transients Seven supernovae and astronomical transients have been observed in NGC 3184: * SN 1921B (type unknown, mag. 13.5) was discovered by Fritz Zwicky on 6 April 1921. * SN 1921C (type unknown, mag. 11) was discovered on 5 December 1921. * SN 1937F (type ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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New General Catalogue
The ''New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars'' (abbreviated NGC) is an astronomical catalogue of deep-sky objects compiled by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888. The NGC contains 7,840 objects, including galaxy, galaxies, star clusters and emission nebulae. Dreyer published two supplements to the NGC in 1895 and 1908, known as the ''Index Catalogues'' (abbreviated IC), describing a further 5,386 astronomical objects. Thousands of these objects are best known by their NGC or IC numbers, which remain in widespread use. The NGC expanded and consolidated the cataloguing work of William Herschel, William and Caroline Herschel, and John Herschel's ''General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars''. Objects south of the Celestial sphere, celestial equator are catalogued somewhat less thoroughly, but many were included based on observation by John Herschel or James Dunlop. The NGC contained multiple errors, but attempts to eliminate them were made by the ''Revised New Ge ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Heavy Element
upright=1.2, Crystals of lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead Heavy metals is a controversial and ambiguous term for metallic elements with relatively high density, densities, atomic weights, or atomic numbers. The criteria used, and whether metalloids are included, vary depending on the author and context and it has been argued that the term "heavy metal" should be avoided. A heavy metal may be defined on the basis of density, atomic number or chemical behaviour. More specific definitions have been published, none of which have been widely accepted. The definitions surveyed in this article encompass up to 96 out of the 118 known chemical elements; only mercury, lead and bismuth meet all of them. Despite this lack of agreement, the term (plural or singular) is widely used in science. A density of more than 5 g/cm3 is sometimes quoted as a commonly used criterion and is used in the b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Luminous Red Nova
A luminous red nova (abbr. ''LRN'', pl. ''luminous red novae'', pl.abbr. ''LRNe'') is a stellar explosion thought to be caused by the merging of two stars. They are characterised by a distinct red colour, and a light curve that fades slowly with resurgent brightness in the infrared. Luminous red novae are not related to standard novae, which are explosions that occur on the surface of white dwarf stars. Discovery A small number of objects exhibiting the characteristics of luminous red novae have been observed over the last 30 years or so. The red star M31 RV in the Andromeda Galaxy flared brightly during 1988 and may have been a luminous red nova. In 1994, V4332 Sagittarii, a star in the Milky Way galaxy, flared similarly, and in 2002, V838 Monocerotis followed suit and was studied quite closely. The first confirmed luminous red nova was the object M85 OT2006-1, in the galaxy Messier 85. It was first observed during the Lick Observatory Supernova Search, and subsequently i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Intermediate Luminosity Optical Transient
An Intermediate Luminosity Optical Transient (ILOT) is an astronomical object which undergoes an optically detectable explosive event with an absolute magnitude (''M'') brighter than a classical nova (''M'' ~ −8) but fainter than that of a supernova (''M'' ~ −17). That nine magnitude range corresponds to a factor of nearly 4000 in luminosity, so the ILOT class may include a wide variety of objects. The term ILOT first appeared in a 2009 paper discussing the nova-like event NGC 300 OT2008-1. As the term has gained more widespread use, it has begun to be applied to some objects like KjPn 8 and CK Vulpeculae for which no transient event has been observed, but which may have been dramatically affected by an ILOT event in the past. The number of ILOTs known is expected to increase substantially when the Vera C. Rubin Observatory becomes operational. A very wide variety of objects have been classified as ILOTs in the astronomical literature. Kashi and Soker proposed a model fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Luminous Blue Variable
Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are rare, massive, evolved stars that show unpredictable and sometimes dramatic variations in their spectra and brightness. They are also known as S Doradus variables after S Doradus, one of the brightest stars of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Discovery and history The LBV stars P Cygni and Eta Carinae, η Carinae have been known as unusual variables since the 17th century, but their true nature was not fully understood until late in the 20th century. In 1922 John Charles Duncan published the first three variable stars ever detected in an external galaxy, variables 1, 2, and 3, in the Triangulum Galaxy (M33). These were followed up by Edwin Hubble with three more in 1926: A, B, and C in M33. Then in 1929 Hubble added a list of variables detected in Messier 31, M31. Of these, Var A, Var B, Var C, and Var 2 in M33 and Var 19 in M31 were followed up with a detailed study by Hubble and Allan Sandage in 1953. Var 1 in M33 was excluded as being too faint a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Apparent Magnitude
Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the Irradiance, brightness of a star, astronomical object or other celestial objects like artificial satellites. Its value depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance, and any extinction (astronomy), extinction of the object's light caused by interstellar dust along the sightline, line of sight to the observer. Unless stated otherwise, the word ''magnitude'' in astronomy usually refers to a celestial object's apparent magnitude. The magnitude scale likely dates to before the ancient Ancient Greek astronomy#Astronomy in the Greco-Roman and Late Antique eras, Roman astronomer Ptolemy, Claudius Ptolemy, whose Star catalogue, star catalog popularized the system by listing stars from First-magnitude star, 1st magnitude (brightest) to 6th magnitude (dimmest). The modern scale was mathematically defined to closely match this historical system by Norman Robert Pogson, Norman Pogson in 1856. The scale is reverse logarithmic scale, logarithmic: ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Kōichi Itagaki
is an amateur astronomer based in Yamagata, the capital city of Yamagata Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of northern Honshu island, Japan. He is responsible for discovering many comets, and over 170 supernovae.The Starwatcher: Amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki is one of the most prolific supernova hunters of all time Dennis Normile, , 2023-07-06 Early life Itagaki had an early fascination with es, and used them to ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Reiki Kushida
is a Japanese amateur astronomer, discoverer of supernovae such as 1991bg (the first visual discovery made by a female astronomer), and co-discoverer of 4875 Ingalls, a Flora asteroid from the main-belt. Reiki Kushida is married to astronomer Yoshio Kushida co-discoverer of 4875 Ingalls and a prolific discoverer of minor planets and comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...s himself. The asteroid 5239 Reiki, discovered by astronomer Shun-ei Izumikawa, was named in her honor on 6 February 1993 (). References External links * http://www.nayoro-star.jp/photo/tenmondai-houmon/kushida.html Discoverers of asteroids 20th-century Japanese astronomers Living people Women astronomers Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Japanese w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Type II Supernova
A Type II supernova or SNII (plural: ''supernovae'') results from the rapid collapse and violent explosion of a massive star. A star must have at least eight times, but no more than 40 to 50 times, the mass of the Sun () to undergo this type of explosion. Type II supernovae are distinguished from other types of supernovae by the presence of hydrogen in their spectra. They are usually observed in the spiral arms of galaxies and in H II regions, but not in elliptical galaxies; those are generally composed of older, low-mass stars, with few of the young, very massive stars necessary to cause a supernova. Stars generate energy by the nuclear fusion of elements. Unlike the Sun, massive stars possess the mass needed to fuse elements that have an atomic mass greater than hydrogen and helium, albeit at increasingly higher temperatures and pressures, causing correspondingly shorter stellar life spans. The degeneracy pressure of electrons and the energy generated by th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Fritz Zwicky
Fritz Zwicky (; ; February 14, 1898 – February 8, 1974) was a Swiss astronomer. He worked most of his life at the California Institute of Technology in the United States of America, where he made many important contributions in theoretical and observational astronomy. In 1933, Zwicky was the first to use the virial theorem to postulate the existence of unseen dark matter, describing it as "'". From p 125: ''"Um, wie beobachtet, einen mittleren Dopplereffekt von 1000 km/sek oder mehr zu erhalten, müsste also die mittlere Dichte im Comasystem mindestens 400 mal grösser sein als die auf Grund von Beobachtungen an leuchtender Materie abgeleitete. Falls sich dies bewahrheiten sollte, würde sich also das überraschende Resultat ergeben, dass dunkle Materie in sehr viel grösserer Dichte vorhanden ist als leuchtende Materie."'' (In order to obtain an average Doppler effect of 1000 km/s or more, as observed, the average density in the Coma system would thus have to be at least 40 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and development through global cooperation. It was founded on 28 July 1919 in Brussels, Belgium and is based in Paris, France. The IAU is composed of individual members, who include both professional astronomers and junior scientists, and national members, such as professional associations, national societies, or academic institutions. Individual members are organised into divisions, committees, and working groups centered on particular subdisciplines, subjects, or initiatives. the Union had 85 national members and 12,734 individual members, spanning 90 countries and territories. Among the key activities of the IAU is serving as a forum for scientific conferences. It sponsors nine annual symposia and holds a triannual General Assembly that sets policy ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Time-domain Astronomy
Time-domain astronomy is the study of how astronomical objects change with time. Said to have begun with Galileo's '' Letters on Sunspots'', the field has now naturally expanded to encompass variable objects beyond the Solar System. Temporal variation may originate from movement of the source, or changes in the object itself. Common targets include novae, supernovae, pulsating stars, flare stars, blazars and active galactic nuclei. Optical time domain surveys include OGLE, HAT-South, PanSTARRS, SkyMapper, ASAS, WASP, CRTS, GOTO, and the forthcoming LSST at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Time-domain astronomy studies transient astronomical events ("''transients''"), which include various types of variable stars, including periodic, quasi-periodic, high proper motion stars, and lifecycle events (supernovae, kilonovae) or other changes in behavior or type. Non-stellar transients include asteroids, planetary transits and comets. Transients characterize astronomical obje ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |