NGC 2444 is a peculiar

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

Lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

. The galaxy lies about 135 million

light years 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 ...

away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that NGC 2444 is approximately 50,000 light years across. It was discovered by

Édouard Stephan Édouard Jean-Marie Stephan (31 August 1837 – 31 December 1923) was a French astronomer. His surname is sometimes spelled Stéphan in some literature, but this is apparently erroneous. He was born in Sainte Pezenne (today one of the districts ...

on January 18, 1877. The galaxy interacts with another galaxy,

NGC 2445 NGC 2445 is a peculiar ring galaxy in the constellation Lynx. The galaxy lies about 200 million light years away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that NGC 2445 is approximately 100,000 light years across. It was discovered ...

, whose shape is distorted and has large star formation regions. CC-BY icon

This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0)
license. NGC 2444 has collided with another galaxy, NGC 2445. As a result of the collision, a bridge of young blue stars has formed between the two galaxies, and while the galaxy itself has been stretched, NGC 2444 contains old stars and no new starbirth because it lost its gas long ago, well before this galactic encounter. One

supernova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...

has been observed in NGC 2444/5, SN 2016bam. The supernova occurred between the two galaxies, about 3.5 arcseconds away from a

HII region An H II region or HII region is a region of interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized. It is typically in a molecular cloud of partially ionized gas in which star formation has recently taken place, with a size ranging from one to hundreds ...

of NGC 2445. It was a

type II supernova A Type II supernova (plural: ''supernovae'' or ''supernovas'') results from the rapid collapse and violent explosion of a massive star. A star must have at least 8 times, but no more than 40 to 50 times, the mass of the Sun () to undergo this ...

which had magnitude 16.1 at discovery. NGC 2445 and NGC 2444 (which lies about one arcminute away) form a pair, known as Arp 143. The pair is part of a

galaxy group A galaxy group or group of galaxies (GrG) is an aggregation of galaxies comprising about 50 or fewer gravitationally bound members, each at least as luminous as the Milky Way (about 1010 times the luminosity of the Sun); collections of galaxies ...

known as LGG 148. Other members of the group include the galaxies

NGC 2476 NGC commonly refers to: * New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, a catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy NGC may also refer to: Companies * NGC Corporation, name of US electric company Dynegy, Inc. from 1995 to 1998 * Nati ...

NGC 2493 NGC commonly refers to: * New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, a catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy NGC may also refer to: Companies * NGC Corporation, name of US electric company Dynegy, Inc. from 1995 to 1998 * Nati ...

, NGC 2524, NGC 2415, UGC 3937, and UGC 3944.

References

External links

{{Lynx (constellation) Lenticular galaxies Peculiar galaxies Interacting galaxies Lynx (constellation) 2444 04016 143 21774 Discoveries by Édouard Stephan Astronomical objects discovered in 1877