galaxies
A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...
in the constellation of
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Gr ...
. It was discovered on 11 June 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 ...
. It was described as "faint, pretty large, irregularly round" by
John Louis Emil Dreyer
John Louis Emil Dreyer (13 February 1852 – 14 September 1926) was a Danish astronomer who spent most of his career working in Ireland. He spent the last decade of his life in Oxford, England.
Life
Dreyer was born in Copenhagen. His fath ...
, the compiler of the
New General Catalogue
The ''New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars'' (abbreviated NGC) is an astronomical catalogue of deep-sky objects compiled by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888. The NGC contains 7,840 objects, including galaxies, star clusters and ...
.
The two components of NGC 6052 are designated NGC 6052A and NGC 6052B, respectively. The two, attracted by each other's gravity, have collided and are
interacting
Interaction is action that occurs between two or more objects, with broad use in philosophy and the sciences. It may refer to:
Science
* Interaction hypothesis, a theory of second language acquisition
* Interaction (statistics)
* Interactions o ...
with each other. NGC 6052 is currently in a late stage of
merging
Merge, merging, or merger may refer to:
Concepts
* Merge (traffic), the reduction of the number of lanes on a road
* Merge (linguistics), a basic syntactic operation in generative syntax in the Minimalist Program
* Merger (politics), the comb ...
, where the shape of the two galaxies is not distinctly defined.
SN 1982aa, a powerful radio
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 detected in NGC 6052.
Gallery
NGC6052 - HST - Potw1909a.jpg, NGC 6052 observed by Hubble with its WFPC2 camera.
List of largest galaxies
This is a list of largest galaxies known, sorted by order of increasing major axis diameters. The unit of measurement used is the light-year (approximately 9.46 kilometers).
Overview
Galaxies are vast collections of stars, planets, nebulae ...
*
List of nearest galaxies
This is a list of known galaxies within 3.8 megaparsecs (12.4 million light-years) of the Solar System, in ascending order of heliocentric distance, or the distance to the Sun.
This encompasses about 50 major Local Group galaxies, and some that ...
*
List of NGC objects (6001–7000)
This is a list of NGC objects 6001–7000 from the New General Catalogue (NGC). The astronomical catalog
An astronomical catalog or catalogue is a list or tabulation of astronomical objects, typically grouped together because they share a comm ...
References
Notes
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:NGC 6052
209
Year 209 ( CCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Lollianus (or, less frequently, year 962 '' Ab urbe cond ...