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NGC 1614
NGC 1614
	Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 1614
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Eridanus
Right ascension	04h 34m 00.027s
Declination	−08° 34′ 44.57″
Redshift	0.015938±0.000033
Heliocentric radial velocity	4,778
Distance	211.3 Mly (64.78 Mpc)
Characteristics
Type	SB(s)c pec.
Notable features	Starburst galaxy with an active galactic nucleus
Other designations
	2MASX J04340002-0834445, APG 186, IRAS 04315-0840, Mrk 0617, II Zw 015, PGC 15538

NGC 1614 is the New General Catalogue identifier for a spiral galaxy in the equatorial constellation of Eridanus. It was discovered on December 29, 1885 by American astronomer Lewis Swift, who described it in a shorthand notation as: pretty faint, small, round, a little brighter middle.^[3] The nebula was then catalogued by Danish-Irish astronomer J. L. E. Drayer in 1888.^[4] When direct photography became available, it was noted that this galaxy displayed some conspicuous peculiarities. American astronomer Halton Arp included it in his 1966 Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.^[5] In 1971, Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky described it as a "blue post-eruptive galaxy, compact patchy core, spiral plumes, long blue jet SSW".^[6]

In the De Vaucouleurs system for classifying galaxies, NGC 1614 has a galaxy morphological classification of SB(s)c pec. The SB indicates this is a barred spiral galaxy, while the '(s)' means it lacks a ring-like structure around the nucleus. The trailing 'c' describes the spiral arm structure as being loosely wound. The peculiar nature of the galaxy is noted with the 'pec.' abbreviation.^[1] The galaxy is bright at the center, with two nearly symmetrical inner spiral arms.^[7] It is a luminous infrared source,^[8] with total infrared luminosity is 10^11.60 L_☉, ranking 55th in the 2003 IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample,^[9] and is the second most luminous galaxy within 75 Mpc.^[10]

This galaxy is undergoing a minor merger event with a gas-rich, low-mass companion galaxy, located in a tidal tail to the southwest of the nucleus. The main galaxy is estimated to be around 3−5 times as massive as the merging object. The interaction between the two galaxies is triggering a burst of star formation in NGC 1614,^[8] although not apparently an active galactic nucleus.^[11] It is described as "one of the most extreme nearby starbursts".^[10]

In the core region, a 230 pc radius ring feature has formed around the nucleus within the last 5−10 million years from an inflow of gas caused by the merger event, and this structure is the site of the intense star forming activity known as a starburst region.^[7] This activity is bright enough that it is masking whatever weak nuclear emission there is coming from the core.^[10] The nucleus itself displays evidence of an older starburst event.^[7] The starburst activity is presumed to be driving an observed outflow of cold molecular gas that has a combined mass of around 32 million times the mass of the Sun.^[11]

Supernovae

Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 1614:

SN 1996D (type Ic, mag. 18.2) was discovered by L. Drissen, C. Robert, Y. Dutil, and J.-R. Roy on 9 February 1996.^[12]^[13]
SN 2020cuj (type II, mag. 20) was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility on 12 February 2020.^[14]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c de Vaucouleurs, G.; et al. (1991), Third reference catalogue of bright galaxies, version 9, New York: Springer-Verlag.
^ ^a ^b Crook, Aidan C.; et al. (February 2007), "Groups of Galaxies in the Two Micron All Sky Redshift Survey", The Astrophysical Journal, 655 (2): 790–813, arXiv:astro-ph/0610732, Bibcode:2007ApJ...655..790C, doi:10.1086/510201, S2CID 11672751.
^ Swift, L. (September 1886), "Catalogue No. 3 of Nebulae discovered at the Warner Observatory", Astronomische Nachrichten, 115 (10): 153–159, Bibcode:1886AN....115..153S, doi:10.1002/asna.18861151003. Entry no. 30.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^ Dreyer, J. L. E. (2000), NGC2000.0: Complete New General Catalog and Index Catalog, NASA, retrieved 2016-03-18.
^ Arp, Halton (November 1966), "Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies", Astrophysical Journal Supplement, 14: 1, Bibcode:1966ApJS...14....1A, doi:10.1086/190147. Entry no. 186.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^ Ulrich, M.-H. (November 1972), "The compact central region of the galaxy NGC 1614.", Astrophysical Journal, 178: 113–118, Bibcode:1972ApJ...178..113U, doi:10.1086/151770.
^ ^a ^b ^c Sliwa, Kazimierz; et al. (November 2014), "Around the Ring We Go: The Cold, Dense Ring of Molecular Gas in NGC 1614", The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 796 (1): 7, arXiv:1410.6982, Bibcode:2014ApJ...796L..15S, doi:10.1088/2041-8205/796/1/L15, S2CID 118498068, L15.
^ ^a ^b König, S.; et al. (May 2013), "The NGC 1614 interacting galaxy. Molecular gas feeding a "ring of fire"", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 553: 11, arXiv:1303.1012, Bibcode:2013A&A...553A..72K, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201220453, S2CID 62891999, A72.
^ Sanders, D. B.; et al. (October 2003), "The IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample", The Astronomical Journal, 126 (4): 1607–1664, arXiv:astro-ph/0306263, Bibcode:2003AJ....126.1607S, doi:10.1086/376841, S2CID 14825701.
^ ^a ^b ^c Pereira-Santaella, M.; et al. (December 2015), "Sub-arcsec mid-IR observations of NGC 1614: Nuclear star formation or an intrinsically X-ray weak AGN?", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 454 (4): 3679–3687, arXiv:1509.07765, Bibcode:2015MNRAS.454.3679P, doi:10.1093/mnras/stv2242, S2CID 119270767.
^ ^a ^b García-Burillo, S.; et al. (August 2015), "High-resolution imaging of the molecular outflows in two mergers: IRAS 17208-0014 and NGC 1614", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 580: 21, arXiv:1505.04705, Bibcode:2015A&A...580A..35G, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201526133, S2CID 38986586, A35.
^ Drissen, L.; Robert, C.; Dutil, Y.; Roy, J. -R.; Filippenko, A. V.; Cappellaro, E.; Patat, F. (1996). "Supernova 1996D in NGC 1614". International Astronomical Union Circular (6317): 2. Bibcode:1996IAUC.6317....2D.
^ "SN 1996D". Transient Name Server. IAU. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
^ "SN 2020cuj". Transient Name Server. IAU. Retrieved 10 December 2024.