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Sculptor Gal
NGC253 - Sculptor Galaxy
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The Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253) is an
intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation
Sculptor. The Sculptor Galaxy is a starburst
galaxy, which means that it is currently
undergoing a period of intense star formation.
The galaxy was discovered by
Caroline Herschel in 1783 while doing one of her
systematic comet searches. About a half century
later, John Herschel while at the Cape of Good
Hope observed it using his 18 inch metallic mirror
reflector. He then wrote "very bright and large
(24′ in length); a superb object.... Its light is
somewhat streaky, but I see no stars in it except
4 large and one very small one, and these seem not
to belong to it, there being many near..."
In 1961, Allan Sandage wrote in
the Hubble Atlas of Galaxies that the Sculptor
Galaxy is "the prototype example of a special
subgroup of Sc systems....photographic images of
galaxies of the group are dominated by the dust
pattern. Dust lanes and patches of great
complexity are scattered throughout the surface.
Spiral arms are often difficult to trace.... The
arms are defined as much by the dust as by the
spiral pattern." B. Y. Mills, working out of
Sydney, discovered that the Sculptor Galaxy is
also a fairly strong radio source.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia)
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