NGC NGC may refer to: Companies * NGC Corporation, the name of US electric company Dynegy, Inc. from 1995 to 1998 * National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago, a state-owned natural gas company in Trinidad and Tobago * National Grid plc, a former nam ...

1260 is a

spiral In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving further away as it revolves around the point. It is a subtype of whorled patterns, a broad group that also includes concentric objects. Two-dimensional A two-dimension ...

lenticular galaxy A lenticular galaxy (denoted S0) is a Galaxy morphological classification, type of galaxy intermediate between an elliptical galaxy, elliptical (denoted E) and a spiral galaxy in galaxy morphological classification schemes. It contains a large-s ...

located 250 million light years away from earth in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

Perseus In Greek mythology, Perseus (, ; Greek language, Greek: Περσεύς, Romanization of Greek, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, the greatest Greek hero and slayer of ...

. It was discovered by astronomer

Guillaume Bigourdan Camille Guillaume Bigourdan (; 6 April 1851 – 28 February 1932) was a French astronomer. Personal life Bigourdan was born at Sistels, Tarn-et-Garonne to Pierre Bigourdan and Jeanne Carrière. When his teachers and local curate recognised ...

on 19 October 1884. NGC 1260 is a member of the

Perseus Cluster The Perseus cluster (Abell 426) is a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Perseus. It has a recession speed of 5,366 km/ s and a diameter of 863. It is one of the most massive objects in the known universe, containing thousands of galaxi ...

and forms a tight pair with the galaxy PGC 12230. This

galaxy A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...

is dominated by a population of many old

stars A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of ...

. In 2006, it was home to the second brightest

supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

in the

observable universe The observable universe is a Ball (mathematics), spherical region of the universe consisting of all matter that can be observation, observed from Earth; the electromagnetic radiation from these astronomical object, objects has had time to reach t ...

SN 2006gy SN 2006gy was an extremely energetic supernova, also referred to as a hypernova, that was discovered on September 18, 2006. It was first observed by Robert Quimby and P. Mondol,

. This supernova was the most energetic and brightest supernova on record so far.

References

External links

*
Brightest object found in NGC 1260
(Space.com : 7 May 2007) * http://www.solstation.com/x-objects/sn2006gy.htm * Spiral galaxies Perseus (constellation)

1260 Year 1260 ( MCCLX) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Africa * October 24 – Saif ad-Din Qutuz, Mamluk sultan of Egypt, is assassinated by Baibars, who seizes power for himself. * The civil se ...

12219 02634 Astronomical objects discovered in 1884 Perseus Cluster Lenticular galaxies {{lenticular-galaxy-stub