NGC 1232
NGC 1232, also known as the Eye of God Galaxy is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus. It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on 20 October 1784.
| NGC 1232 | |
|---|---|
NGC 1232 by ESO | |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Eridanus |
| Right ascension | 03h 09m 45.5s |
| Declination | −20° 34′ 46″ |
| Redshift | 0.005347 |
| Heliocentric radial velocity | 1603 ± 1 km/s |
| Distance | 61 ± 8.5 Mly (18.7 ± 2.6 Mpc) |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 10.9 |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | SAB(rs)c |
| Apparent size (V) | 7′.4 × 6′.5 |
| Notable features | Discrepant galaxy pair with NGC 1232 A |
| Other designations | |
| PGC 11819, Arp 41 | |
It is dominated by millions of bright stars and dark dust, in spiral arms rotating about the center. Open clusters containing bright blue stars are sprinkled along these spiral arms, with dark lanes of dense interstellar dust between. Less visible are dimmer stars and interstellar gas, comprising such a high mass that they dominate the dynamics of the inner galaxy. Not visible is matter of unknown form called dark matter, needed to explain the motions of the visible material in the outer galaxy. The galaxy is approximately 200,000 light-years across. The galaxy's spiral arms are not smooth and perturbed, leading to some suggesting a collision with a dwarf galaxy. However, some studies doubt this suggestion.
NGC 1232 and its apparent companions are possibly part of the Eridanus cluster of galaxies, along with NGC 1300.