Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Perseus (Per)  ·  Contains:  NGC 1023
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NGC 1023 - Elliptical Galaxy., astroeyes
NGC 1023 - Elliptical Galaxy.
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NGC 1023 - Elliptical Galaxy.

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 1023 - Elliptical Galaxy., astroeyes
NGC 1023 - Elliptical Galaxy.
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 1023 - Elliptical Galaxy.

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Description

NGC 1023 is classified as a "SB0" galaxy, which means that it has a disk shape and a central bulge of stars like our own Milky Way galaxy, but no spiral arms in the disk. Computer simulations have been carried trying to reproduce the star distribution in the real galaxy. Simulations with a central black hole mass between 40 million and 60 million solar masses did the best job of imitating the real galaxy, so it has been concluded that a massive black hole must reside at the centre of ngc 1023.

Evidence from the HST has shown that some of the stars closest to the central black hole form a small flattened disk and some of the stars in this disk are moving as fast as 1.3 million miles per hour; even so they are still unable to escape from the powerful gravity of the black hole.

ngc 1023 is an Arp galaxy, Arp 135, located very near to ngc 891 in Perseus. It is about 33MLy from us and is quite bright at around mag. 10.2. NGC 1023A is an interacting faint companion that lies to the Eastern end of the main galaxy. It's mag. is around 13. and can be seen as a faint bluish haze in my image.

This image captured on 21/10/2008 consists of the best 50 of 65 x 60 sec exposures. Acquired and processed in AstroArt, PixInsight and NEAT.

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  • NGC 1023 - Elliptical Galaxy., astroeyes
    Original
  • Final
    NGC 1023 - Elliptical Galaxy., astroeyes
    B

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NGC 1023 - Elliptical Galaxy., astroeyes