NGC_3783

NGC 3783

NGC 3783

Galaxy in the constellation Centaurus

NGC 3783 is a barred spiral galaxy located about 135[4] million light years away in the constellation Centaurus.[7] It is inclined by an angle of 23° to the line of sight from the Earth along a position angle of about 163°. The morphological classification of SBa[5] indicates a bar structure across the center (B) and tightly-wound spiral arms (a).[8] Although not shown by this classification, observers note the galaxy has a luminous inner ring surrounding the bar structure. The bright compact nucleus is active and categorized as a Seyfert 1 type. This nucleus is a strong source of X-ray emission and undergoes variations in emission across the electromagnetic spectrum.[5]

Artist's impression of the surroundings of the supermassive black hole in NGC 3783 (ESO)
Quick Facts Observation data (J2000 epoch), Constellation ...

The source of the activity in this galaxy is a rapidly rotating supermassive black hole, which is located at the core and is surrounded by an accretion disk of dust.[9] The estimated mass of this black hole, from reverberation mapping, is about 2.8 million times the mass of the Sun.[10] Interferometric observations yield an inner radius of 0.52 ± 0.16 ly (0.16 ± 0.05 pc) for the orbiting torus of dust.[11]

This is a member of a loose association of 47 galaxies known as the NGC 3783 group. Located at a mean distance of 117 million light-years (36 Mpc), the group is centered at coordinates α = 11h 37m 12s, δ = –37° 30′ 57.6″: equivalent to about 870×10^3 ly (267 kpc) from NGC 3783. The NGC 3783 group has a mean velocity of 2,903 ± 26 km/s with respect to the Sun and a velocity dispersion of 190 ± 24 km/s. The diffuse X-ray emission of the group is roughly centered on the galaxy NGC 3783.[12]

  • NGC 3783 as seen by the legacy surveys. The bright star on the lower left is HD 101274
  • This video shows an artist's impression of the dusty wind emanating from the black hole at the centre of galaxy NGC 3783

References

  1. [1]
    Skrutskie, Michael F.; et al. (February 1, 2006), "The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)", The Astronomical Journal, 131 (2): 1163–1183, Bibcode:2006AJ....131.1163S, doi:10.1086/498708, ISSN 0004-6256, S2CID 18913331.
  2. [2]
    Strauss, Michael A.; et al. (November 1992), "A redshift survey of IRAS galaxies. VII - The infrared and redshift data for the 1.936 Jansky sample", Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 83 (1): 29–63, Bibcode:1992ApJS...83...29S, doi:10.1086/191730.
  3. [3]
    Jones, D. Heath; et al. (October 2009), "The 6dF Galaxy Survey: final redshift release (DR3) and southern large-scale structures", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 399 (2): 683–698, arXiv:0903.5451, Bibcode:2009MNRAS.399..683J, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15338.x, S2CID 119223679.
  4. [4]
    Pereira-Santaella, Miguel; et al. (December 2010), "The Mid-infrared High-ionization Lines from Active Galactic Nuclei and Star-forming Galaxies", The Astrophysical Journal, 725 (2): 2270–2280, arXiv:1010.5129, Bibcode:2010ApJ...725.2270P, doi:10.1088/0004-637X/725/2/2270, S2CID 39630754.
  5. [5]
    García-Barreto, J. A.; et al. (August 1999), "HI spatial distribution in the galaxy NGC 3783", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 348: 685–692, arXiv:astro-ph/9906492, Bibcode:1999A&A...348..685G.
  6. [6]
    "NGC 3783". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  7. [7]
    "The active galaxy NGC 3783 in the constellation of Centaurus", European Southern Observatory, June 20, 2013, retrieved 2013-06-29.
  8. [8]
    Buta, Ronald J.; et al. (2007), Atlas of Galaxies, Cambridge University Press, pp. 13–17, ISBN 978-0521820486.
  9. [9]
    Brenneman, L. W.; et al. (August 2011), "The Spin of the Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 3783", The Astrophysical Journal, 736 (2): 103, arXiv:1104.1172, Bibcode:2011ApJ...736..103B, doi:10.1088/0004-637X/736/2/103, S2CID 59522696.
  10. [10]
    Bentz, Misty C.; et al. (2021), "A Detailed View of the Broad-line Region in NGC 3783 from Velocity-resolved Reverberation Mapping", The Astrophysical Journal, 920 (2): 112, arXiv:2108.00482, Bibcode:2021ApJ...920..112B, doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac19af, S2CID 236777045.
  11. [11]
    Weigelt, G.; et al. (May 2012), "VLTI/AMBER observations of the Seyfert nucleus of NGC 3783", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 541: L9, arXiv:1204.6122, Bibcode:2012A&A...541L...9W, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201219213, S2CID 118540180.
  12. [12]
    Kilborn, Virginia A.; et al. (September 2006), "Gaseous tidal debris found in the NGC 3783 group", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 371 (2): 739–749, arXiv:astro-ph/0606463, Bibcode:2006MNRAS.371..739K, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10697.x, S2CID 10340132.
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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article NGC_3783, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.