page_title: NGC 1084
hierarchical_section_title: NGC 1084
caption_attribution_description: English: In this new Hubble image, we can see an almost face-on view of the galaxy NGC 1084. At first glance, this galaxy is pretty unoriginal. Like the majority of galaxies that we observe it is a spiral galaxy, and, as with about half of all spirals, it has no bar running through its loosely wound arms. However, although it may seem unremarkable on paper, NGC 1084 is actually a near-perfect example of this type of galaxy — and Hubble has a near-perfect view of it. NGC 1084 has hosted several violent events known as supernovae — explosions that occur when massive stars, many times more massive than the Sun, approach their twilight years. As the fusion processes in their cores run out of fuel and come to an end, these stellar giants collapse, blowing off their outer layers in a violent explosion. Supernovae can often briefly outshine an entire galaxy, before then fading away over several weeks or months. Although directly observing one of these explosions is hard to do, in galaxies like NGC 1084 astronomers can find and study the remnants left behind. Astronomers have noted five supernova explosions within NGC 1084 over the past half century. These remnants are named after the year in which they took place — 1963P, 1996an, 1998dl, 2009H, and 2012ec. The most recent explosion, 2012ec, was detected at the end of NGC 1084’s top right arm in August 2012. It is not visible here as these images were taken in 2001, some eleven years before this supernova exploded. Astronomers at Queen's University Belfast have managed to use these "before" images to directly identify the star that exploded. It appears to be a red supergiant some 10 to 20 times more massive than the Sun, and quite similar to the well-known star Betelguese in Orion. A version of this image was entered into the Hubble's Hidden Treasures image processing competition by Flickr user Brian Campbell (Sinickel).
context_page_description: NGC 1084 is an unbarred spiral galaxy in constellation Eridanus. It is located at a distance of about 63 million light-years away from the Milky Way. The galaxy was discovered by William Herschel on 10 January 1785. It has multiple spiral arms, which are not well defined. It belongs in the same galaxy group with NGC 988, NGC 991, NGC 1022, NGC 1035, NGC 1042, NGC 1047, NGC 1052 and NGC 1110. This group is in turn associated with the Messier 77 group.
  Star formation in the galaxy is chaotic and not confined to the spiral arms, but the rate is not high enough to classify it as a starburst galaxy. Star formation has taken place in small bursts in the last 40 million years. The cause of this activity has been proposed as a merger with a gas-rich dwarf galaxy. A radio source has been detected 3.5' south-west of the galaxy, connected to it by a bridge. NGC 1084 has been the site of 5 supernovae explosions over a period of 49 years: 1963P, 1996an, 1998dl, 2009H, and 2012ec.
context_section_description: NGC 1084 is an unbarred spiral galaxy in constellation Eridanus. It is located at a distance of about 63 million light-years away from the Milky Way. The galaxy was discovered by William Herschel on 10 January 1785. It has multiple spiral arms, which are not well defined. It belongs in the same galaxy group with NGC 988, NGC 991, NGC 1022, NGC 1035, NGC 1042, NGC 1047, NGC 1052 and NGC 1110. This group is in turn associated with the Messier 77 group.
  Star formation in the galaxy is chaotic and not confined to the spiral arms, but the rate is not high enough to classify it as a starburst galaxy. Star formation has taken place in small bursts in the last 40 million years. The cause of this activity has been proposed as a merger with a gas-rich dwarf galaxy. A radio source has been detected 3.5' south-west of the galaxy, connected to it by a bridge. NGC 1084 has been the site of 5 supernovae explosions over a period of 49 years: 1963P (mag. 14), 1996an (Type II, mag. 14), 1998dl (Type II, mag. 16), 2009H (Type II, mag. 17), and 2012ec (Type IIP, mag. 14,5).
caption: NGC 1084 by the Hubble Space Telescope
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "In this new Hubble image, we can see an almost face-on view of the galaxy NGC 1084. At first glance, this galaxy is pretty unoriginal. Like the majority of galaxies that we observe it is a spiral galaxy, and, as with about half of all spirals, it has no bar running through its loosely wound arms. However, although it may seem unremarkable on paper, NGC 1084 is actually a near-perfect example of this type of galaxy \u2014 and Hubble has a near-perfect view of it. NGC 1084 has hosted several violent events known as supernovae \u2014 explosions that occur when massive stars, many times more massive than the Sun, approach their twilight years. As the fusion processes in their cores run out of fuel and come to an end, these stellar giants collapse, blowing off their outer layers in a violent explosion. Supernovae can often briefly outshine an entire galaxy, before then fading away over several weeks or months. Although directly observing one of these explosions is hard to do, in galaxies like NGC 1084 astronomers can find and study the remnants left behind. Astronomers have noted five supernova explosions within NGC 1084 over the past half century. These remnants are named after the year in which they took place \u2014 1963P, 1996an, 1998dl, 2009H, and 2012ec. The most recent explosion, 2012ec, was detected at the end of NGC 1084\u2019s top right arm in August 2012. It is not visible here as these images were taken in 2001, some eleven years before this supernova exploded. Astronomers at Queen's University Belfast have managed to use these \"before\" images to directly identify the star that exploded. It appears to be a red supergiant some 10 to 20 times more massive than the Sun, and quite similar to the well-known star Betelguese in Orion. A version of this image was entered into the Hubble's Hidden Treasures image processing competition by Flickr user Brian Campbell (Sinickel).", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)"}