NGC 3169 is a
spiral galaxy
Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae''[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
away in the
constellation
A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object.
The origins of the e ...
Sextans. It has the
morphological classification SA(s)a pec,
which indicates this is a pure, unbarred spiral galaxy with tightly-wound arms and peculiar features.
There is an asymmetrical spiral arm and an extended halo around the galaxy.
It is a member of the
NGC 3166 Group of galaxies, which is a member of the
Leo II Groups
The Leo II Groups, or Leo II Cloud, are a series of at least 110 galactic clusters and individual galaxies stretching approximately 30 Mly (9.2 Mpc) off the right edge of the Virgo Supercluster. It is located approximately 65 Mly (20 Mpc) to 95 M ...
, a series of galaxies and
galaxy clusters strung out from the right edge of the
Virgo Supercluster.
This is a
LINER 2 galaxy that displays an extended emission of
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, ...
in the region of the nucleus.
A
hard X-ray source at the center most likely indicates an
active galactic nucleus.
The stellar population in the nucleus, and a ring at an angular radius of 6″, shows an age of only one billion years and is generally younger than the surrounding stellar population. This suggests that a burst of star formation took place in the nucleus roughly one billion years ago.
NGC 3169 is located in close physical proximity to NGC 3166, and the two have an estimated separation of around 160 kly (50 kpc). Their interaction is creating a gravitational distortion that has left the disk of NGC 3166 warped.
Combined with
NGC 3156
NGC 3156 is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Sextans. It is located at a distance of about 75 million light-years from Earth and is forming a pair with NGC 3169. It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on December 13, ...
, the three galaxies form a small group within the larger
Leo 1 group. The three are embedded within an extended ring of neutral hydrogen that is centered on NGC 3169.
Supernovae
In 1984, a
Type II-L supernova was discovered in this galaxy. Designated 1984E, the spectrum of this event at maximum light showed prominent
Balmer lines
The Balmer series, or Balmer lines in atomic physics, is one of a set of six named series describing the spectral line emissions of the hydrogen atom. The Balmer series is calculated using the Balmer formula, an empirical equation discovered b ...
that indicated the explosion occurred inside a dense shell of hydrogen surrounding the star. This shell was likely created by a strong
stellar wind
A stellar wind is a flow of gas ejected from the upper atmosphere of a star. It is distinguished from the bipolar outflows characteristic of young stars by being less collimated, although stellar winds are not generally spherically symmetric.
D ...
from the progenitor star.
A second supernova was discovered in 2003: SN 2003cg (
type Ia
A Type Ia supernova (read: "type one-A") is a type of supernova that occurs in binary systems (two stars orbiting one another) in which one of the stars is a white dwarf. The other star can be anything from a giant star to an even smaller white ...
, mag. 14.4).
Retrieved 29 March 2023.
References
External links
ADS: Supernova 2003cg in NGC 3169SEDS: NGC3169
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{{DEFAULTSORT:NGC 3169
3169
05525
Unbarred spiral galaxies
Sextans
29855
+1-26-26
10116+0342
17831219