NGC 1549 is an elliptical galaxy located in the constellation Dorado. It is located at a distance of about 50 million

light year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

s from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 1549 is about 75,000 light years across. NGC 1549 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 6 December 1835 and may have been observed by James Dunlop in 1826. It is a member of the Dorado Group. In the centre of NGC 1549 is expected to lie a supermassive black hole, whose mass is estimated to be between 390 and 810 million (10) based on the Sérsic index of the galaxy. No polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) emission, an indicator for the presence of interstellar dust, was detected by the Infrared

Spectrograph An optical spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify mate ...

onboard

Spitzer Space Telescope The Spitzer Space Telescope, formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), was an infrared space telescope launched in 2003. Operations ended on 30 January 2020. Spitzer was the third space telescope dedicated to infrared astronomy, f ...

. NGC 1549 has been found to emit

X-rays An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 Picometre, picometers to 10 Nanometre, nanometers, corresponding to frequency, ...

, with its total flux exceeding ergs s–1 for the 0.3–5 keV band. A total number of 150 globular clusters are estimated to exist in NGC 1549, a number low compared to similar size galaxies. The outer isophotes of the galaxy appear twisted and feature faint shells. NGC 1549 forms an interacting pair with the lenticular galaxy

NGC 1553 NGC 1553 is a prototypical lenticular galaxy in the constellation Dorado. It is the second brightest member of the Dorado Group of galaxies. British astronomer John Herschel discovered NGC 1553 on December 5, 1834 using an 18.7 inch reflector. I ...

, which lies 12 arcminutes to the south. It is the largest elliptical galaxy in a moderate size galaxy group known as the Dorado Group.

References

External links

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NGC 1549 on SIMBAD
{{DEFAULTSORT:NGC 1549 Elliptical galaxies Dorado Dorado Group

1549 __NOTOC__ Year 1549 ( MDXLIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Kingdom of England, it was known as "The Year of the Many-Headed Monster", because of the unusually high n ...

14757 Astronomical objects discovered in 1826 Discoveries by James Dunlop Discoveries by John Herschel