barred spiral galaxy
A barred spiral galaxy is a spiral galaxy with a central bar-shaped structure composed of stars. Bars are found in about two thirds of all spiral galaxies, and generally affect both the motions of stars and interstellar gas within spiral galaxi ...
in the constellation
Pisces
Pisces may refer to:
* Pisces, an obsolete (because of land vertebrates) taxonomic superclass including all fish
* Pisces (astrology), an astrological sign
* Pisces (constellation), a constellation
**Pisces Overdensity, an overdensity of stars in ...
. NGC 266 is located at a distance of 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 ...
. It was discovered on September 12, 1784, by
William Herschel
Frederick William Herschel (; german: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline H ...
. The form of this barred galaxy is described by its morphological classification of SB(rs)ab, which indicates a quasi-ring-like structure (rs) and moderate-to-tightly wound
spiral arm
Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae''group
A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together.
Groups of people
* Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity
* Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...
with six low-mass galaxies.
NGC 266 is an
LINER
A low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) is a type of galactic nucleus that is defined by its spectral line emission. The spectra typically include line emission from weakly ionized or neutral atoms, such as O, O+, N+, and S+. ...
-type
active galaxy
An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not prod ...
. It has a moderate star formation rate estimated at ·yr−1. A diffuse X-ray emission from hot gas has been detected around this galaxy, extending out to a radius of at least 70,000 light years. This emission not being driven by winds from a
starburst region
A starburst is an astrophysical process that involves star formation occurring at a rate that is large compared to the rate that is typically observed. This starburst activity will consume the available interstellar gas supply over a timespan that ...
, so the root cause is unknown.
On October 12, 2005, a magnitude 16.8
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 ...
was discovered in NGC 266. It was positioned east and north of the galactic nucleus. An image of the galaxy taken on September 10 showed no supernova event, so this explosion occurred after that date. This event was designated SN 2005gl, and the progenitor was identified as a massive hypergiant star that was most likely a
luminous blue variable
Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are 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 Larg ...