NGC 2444 is a peculiar

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 ...

in the constellation

Lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

. The galaxy lies about 135 million

light years A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astro ...

away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that NGC 2444 is approximately 50,000 light years across. It was discovered by

Édouard Stephan Édouard Jean-Marie Stephan (31 August 1837 – 31 December 1923) was a French astronomer. His surname is sometimes spelled Stéphan in some literature, but this is apparently erroneous. He was born in Sainte Pezenne (today one of the districts o ...

on January 18, 1877. The galaxy interacts with another galaxy, NGC 2445, whose shape is distorted and has large star formation regions. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0)
license. NGC 2444 has collided with another galaxy, NGC 2445. As a result of the collision, a bridge of young blue stars has formed between the two galaxies, and while the galaxy itself has been stretched, NGC 2444 contains old stars and no new starbirth because it lost its gas long ago, well before this galactic encounter. One

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 ...

has been observed in NGC 2444/5, SN 2016bam. The supernova occurred between the two galaxies, about 3.5 arcseconds away from a

HII region An H II region is a region of interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized. It is typically in a molecular cloud of partially ionized gas in which star formation has recently taken place, with a size ranging from one to hundreds of light year ...

of NGC 2445. It was a

type II supernova A Type II supernova or SNII (plural: ''supernovae'') results from the rapid collapse and violent explosion of a massive star. A star must have at least eight times, but no more than 40 to 50 times, the mass of the Sun () to undergo this type ...

which had magnitude 16.1 at discovery. NGC 2445 and NGC 2444 (which lies about one arcminute away) form a pair, known as Arp 143. The pair is part of a

galaxy group A galaxy group or group of galaxies (GrG) is an aggregation of galaxies comprising about 50 or fewer gravitationally bound members, each at least as luminous as the Milky Way (about 1010 times the luminosity of the Sun); collections of galaxi ...

known as LGG 148. Other members of the group include the galaxies

NGC 2476 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 ...

, NGC 2493, NGC 2524,

NGC 2415 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 ...

, UGC 3937, and UGC 3944.

References

External links

{{Lynx (constellation) Lenticular galaxies Peculiar galaxies Interacting galaxies Lynx (constellation)

2444 In contemporary history, the third millennium is the current millennium in the ''Anno Domini'' or Common Era, under the Gregorian calendar. It began on 1 January 2001 ( MMI) and will end on 31 December 3000 ( MMM), spanning the 21st to 30th ...

04016 143 21774 Discoveries by Édouard Stephan Astronomical objects discovered in 1877