NGC 6872 and IC 4970

NGC 6872 and IC 4970
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Pavo
Right ascension	20h 16m 56.5s / 20h 16m 57.1s[1]
Declination	-70° 46′ 06″ / -70° 44′ 58″[1]
Redshift	4560 ± 30 / 4720 ± 40 km/s[1]
Distance	220 Mly[2]
Type	SAB(rs)c / SA0- pec[1]
Apparent dimensions (V)	6′.0 × 1′.7 / 0′.7 × 0′.2[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)	12.7 / 14.7[1]
Notable features	Interacting galaxies
Other designations
ESO 073-IG 032 / 073-IG 033,[1] PGC 64413 / 64415[1]
See also: Galaxy, List of galaxies

NGC 6872 and IC 4970 are a set of interacting galaxies over 200 million light-years away in the constellation Pavo.

On March 29, 1999, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) took a look at these galaxies. It shows the spectacular barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 that is shaped like an "integral sign". It is of type SB(s)b pec and is accompanied by a smaller, interacting galaxy, IC 4970 of type E7-S0^[3] One of NGC 6872 spiral arms is significantly disturbed and is populated by a plethora of bluish objects, many of which are star-forming regions. This may have been be caused by a recent passage of IC 4970 through it. The whole of NGC 6872 extends over more than 6 arcmin in the sky and its real size from tip to tip is thus nearly 380,000 light years.^[4] It is in fact one of the largest known barred spiral galaxies.

See also

• Antennae Galaxies
• NGC 2207 and IC 2163

External links

• SIMBAD: NGC 6872
• SIMBAD: ESO 73- 33
• ESO: Six New VLT Photos from ANTU/FORS1
• NGC 6872 and IC 4970 on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 4676A / 4676B. http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/. Retrieved 2006-11-21. 
2. ^ http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/nph-objsearch?objname=ngc+6872
3. ^ http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/nph-objsearch?objname=ngc+6872
4. ^ http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/nph-objsearch?objname=ngc+6872