Post by glactus on Dec 6, 2008 22:08:56 GMT
The NGC 1365 galaxy
NGC 1365 is a barred spiral in the constellation of Fornax. Magnitude is 10.2.
The core is an oval shape with spiral arms extending in a curve north and south from the ends of the east-west bar and form an almost ring like Z-shaped halo.
Supernovae 2001du, 1983V, and 1957C were observed in NGC 1365.
Members of the Key Project team, who have been measuring the distance to the Fornax cluster, have estimated it to be 60 million light-years from Earth. The team arrived at their preliminary estimate by using Cepheids, bright, young stars that are used as milepost markers to calculate distances to nearby galaxies.
The group has discovered about 50 Cepheids in the galaxy. Cepheids are accurate distance markers for nearby galaxies, but astronomers need secondary methods to measure distances to faraway galaxies. An accurate value for the Hubble Constant is dependent on reliable secondary distance methods.
Credit: W. Freedman (Carnegie Observatories), the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project team, and NASA