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The cometary globule CG 12 and NGC 5367 - a reflection
nebula in the constellation Centaurus |
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Object description:
NGC 5367
(IC 4347)is a little known and rarely photographed
very small reflection nebula in the constellation Centaurus. The reflection
nebula is associated with the cometary globule CG
12. It is a star forming region and you can see nicely how the very
young stars detach from the globule and their blue light is reflected and
scattered by the dust of the cool molecular cloud.
The blue stars
illuminating the nebula form the double star system h
4636, they belong to the spectral type B4 and B7. The distance
between the two stars is about 2500 astronomical units. Whether the two stars
form a physical star system is unknown. If so, the orbital period is about
30,000 years. NGC 5367 and CG 12 have a distance of about 2000 light-years to
the solar system. |
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NGC
5367 was discovered by John Herschel on June 26, 1834. Also observed on
December 30, 1897 by American astronomer Lewis A. Swift and cataloged as
IC 4347.
PGC 49
788is a Hubble-classified SB galaxy with an apparent size of 1.5 x
0.4 arcminutes. Its visual magnitude is about 14.5 magnitude class, it has a
distance of about 160 million light years from Earth.
Further
information about this region can be found
here,
here and
here
« Click here or the thumbnail to load a large annoted image
and a size comparison to the full moon. |
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All Images und all Content are ©
by Franz Hofmann + Wolfgang Paech |