IC 2133

Also Known as: NGC 1961, Arp 184, UGC 3334, PGC 17625

Object Type: Intermediate Spiral Galaxy

Constellation: Camelopardalis

Distance from Earth: 173 million light years

Apparent Magnitude: 10.99

Coordinates: RA 05H 42M 04.6S DEC 69 deg 22 min 42 sec

Actual Size: 220,000 light years in diameter

Apparent Dimensions: 4.6 arc-minutes x 3.0 arc-minutes

Discovered by: NGC 1961 was discovered by William Herschel on 3 December 1788 using his 18.7 inch reflector. He cataloged it with III 747 as a «very faint nebula» and noted: «Considerably faint, pretty large, of an irregular figure, much brighter in the middle, easily resolvable, some stars visible.»
Dreyer added the galaxy as NGC 1961 to his New General Catalogue published in 1888.
On 22 December 1891 the galaxy was discovered again by the French astronomer Guillaume Bigourdan using the 12.4 inch refractor at Paris Observatory. His observation added in 1910 by Dreyer as IC 2133 to his second «Index Catalogue», unknowingly as duplicate entry for NGC 1961.

Description: NGC 1961 is an intermediate spiral galaxy with an active galactic nucleus. It shows highly disturbed and asymmetric spiral arms, which normally indicates an interaction or merger with another galaxy.
It is at a distance of about 200 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 1961 is more than 220,000 light years across making it over two times the size of the Milky Way. The galaxy has been distorted, however no companion has been detected nor double nuclei that could show a recent merger. Its outer arms are highly irregular.
Two long straight arms extend from the north side of the galaxy.
NGC 1961 is classified as both an intermediate spiral galaxy and an active galactic nucleus (AGN).
Intermediate spirals are in between barred and unbarred spiral galaxies, meaning they don’t have a well-defined bar of stars at their centers.
AGN galaxies have very bright centers that often far outshine the rest of the galaxy at certain wavelengths of light.
These type of galaxies likely have supermassive black holes at their cores churning out bright jets and winds that shape their evolution.” NGC 1961 is a fairly common type of AGN that emits low-energy-charged particles.
A luminous X-ray corona has been detected around the galaxy.
NGC 1961 is the central member of the small group of nine galaxies, the NGC 1961 group.

Click Below Image(s) for Full Size:

NGC 1961 is a Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in the Camelopardalis constellation. NGC 1961 is situated close to the northern celestial pole and, as such, it is visible for most part of the year from the northern hemisphere.
Given its visual magnitude of 10.99, NGC 1961 is visible with the help of a telescope having an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
NGC 1961 is best observed in the winter when Camelopardalis is high in the night sky.

Platesolve

NGC 1961 Spiral Galaxy

Imaging Details
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