NGC 6822

NGC 6822
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Sagittarius
Right ascension	19h 44m 56.6s[1]
Declination	-14° 47′ 21″[1]
Redshift	-57 ± 2 km/s[1]
Distance	1.63 ± 0.03 Mly (500 ± 10 kpc)[2][3][4]
Type	IB(s)m[1]
Apparent dimensions (V)	15′.5 × 13′.5[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)	9.3[1]
Other designations
Barnard's Galaxy,[1] IC 4895,[1] DDO 209,[1] PGC 63616,[1] Caldwell 57
See also: Galaxy, List of galaxies

NGC 6822 (also known as Barnard's Galaxy, IC 4895, or Caldwell 57) is a barred irregular galaxy approximately 1.6 million light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Part of the Local Group of galaxies, it was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1881 (hence its name), with a six-inch refractor telescope. It is one of the closer galaxies to the Milky Way. It is similar in structure and composition to the Small Magellanic Cloud.

Observational history

Edwin Hubble wrote the seminal paper N.G.C. 6822, A Remote Stellar System (Hubble 1925) wherein he identified 15 variable stars (11 of which were Cepheids). He also surveyed the galaxy's stars distribution down to magnitude 19.4. He provided spectral characteristics, luminosities and dimensions for the five brightest "diffuse nebula" (giant H II regions) that included the Bubble Nebula and the Ring Nebula. He also computed the absolute magnitude of the entire galaxy.

Hubble's detection of eleven Cepheid variable stars was a milestone in astronomy. Utilizing the Cepheid Period-Luminosity relationship, Hubble determined a distance of more than 700,000 light-years. This was the first system beyond the Magellanic Clouds to have its distance accurately determined. (Hubble continued this process with the Andromeda Galaxy and the Triangulum Galaxy). His distance to the galaxy was way beyond Harlow Shapley's value of 300,000 light-years for the size of universe. In this paper, Hubble concluded "the Great Debate" of 1920 between Heber Curtis and Shapley over the scale of the universe and the nature of the "spiral nebula". It soon became evident that all spiral nebulae were in fact spiral galaxies far outside our own Milky Way.

In 1977, Paul W. Hodge extended the list of known H II regions in Barnard to 16. Today, there are over 150 of these regions cataloged in Barnard's Galaxy.

Gallery

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  NGC 6822 in ultraviolet by GALEX.

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  "Star-Forming Region" in NGC 6822.

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  "A Giant Star Factory" in NGC 6822.

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  NGC 6822 from ESO's Wide Field Imager.

See also

• Bubble Nebula (NGC 6822)
• Ring Nebula (NGC 6822)
• Large Magellanic Cloud - another irregular galaxy within the Local Group
• Small Magellanic Cloud - another irregular galaxy within the Local Group

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 6822. http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/nph-objsearch?search_type=Obj_id&objid=58966&objname=182. Retrieved 2007-03-15. 
2. ^ Karachentsev et al. 2004
3. ^ Karachentsev & Kashibadze 2006
4. ^ Cannon et al. 2006

References

• Cannon, John M.; Walter, Fabian; Armus, Lee; Bendo, George J.; Calzetti, Daniela; Draine, Bruce T.; Engelbracht, Charles W.; Helou, George et al. (December 2006), "The Nature of Infrared Emission in the Local Group Dwarf Galaxy NGC 6822 as Revealed by Spitzer", The Astrophysical Journal 652 (2): 1170–1187, arXiv:astro-ph/0608249, Bibcode 2006ApJ...652.1170C, doi:10.1086/508341 
• Hubble, Edwin P. (December 1925), "NGC 6822, a remote stellar system", Astrophysics Journal 62: 409–433, Bibcode 1925ApJ....62..409H, doi:10.1086/142943 
• Karachentsev, I. D.; Karachentseva, V. E.; Hutchmeier, W. K.; Makarov, D. I. (April 2004), "A Catalog of Neighboring Galaxies", Astronomical Journal 127 (4): 2031–2068, Bibcode 2004AJ....127.2031K, doi:10.1086/382905 
• Karachentsev, I. D.; Kashibadze, O. G. (January 2006), "Masses of the local group and of the M81 group estimated from distortions in the local velocity field", Astrophysics 49 (1): 3–18, Bibcode 2006Ap.....49....3K, doi:10.1007/s10511-006-0002-6 

External links

• The Milky Way's Tiny but Tough Galactic Neighbour — ESO Press Release
• NGC 6822: Barnard's Galaxy
• NGC 6822 on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images

Coordinates: 19^h 44^m 56.6^s, −14° 47′ 21″