NGC 1460 is a

barred lenticular galaxy A lenticular galaxy (denoted S0) is a type of galaxy intermediate between an elliptical (denoted E) and a spiral galaxy in galaxy morphological classification schemes. It contains a large-scale disc but does not have large-scale spiral arms. L ...

in the constellation Eridanus. It was discovered by

John Herschel Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (; 7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical wor ...

on November 28, 1837. It is moving away from the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...

at 1341 km/s.

Distance and size

At a distance of nearly 63 million light-years, it is a member of

Fornax Cluster The Fornax Cluster is a cluster of galaxies lying at a distance of 19 megaparsecs (62 million light-years). It has an estimated mass of solar masses, making it the second richest galaxy cluster within 100 million light-years, after the consider ...

. Its size on the night sky is 1.4' x 1.0' which is proportional to its real size of 30,000 light-years, which makes it one of the smaller galaxies in

Characteristics

NGC 1460 has a

Hubble classification The Hubble sequence is a morphological classification scheme for galaxies invented by Edwin Hubble in 1926. It is often colloquially known as the Hubble tuning-fork diagram because the shape in which it is traditionally represented resembles a t ...

of SB0, which indicates it is a barred lenticular galaxy. But, this one contains a huge bar at its core. The bar spreads from the center to the edge of the galaxy, as seen on the Hubble image in the box. This bar is one of the largest seen in barred lenticular galaxies. NGC 1460 is also an early-type galaxy. Despite their name, early-type galaxies are much older than spiral galaxies, and mostly comprise old, red-colored stars. Very little star formation occurs in these galaxies; the lack of star formation in elliptical galaxies appears to start at the center and then slowly propagates outward. This galaxy is early-type lenticular, but lenticular galaxies have as same process as elliptical galaxies.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:NGC 1460 Barred lenticular galaxies Astronomical objects discovered in 1837 Fornax Cluster Eridanus (constellation)

1460 Year 1460 (Roman numerals, MCDLX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 1460th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 460th year of the 2nd millennium ...

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