IC 1623 explained

IC 1623
Epoch:J2000
Ra:[1]
Dist Ly:254 Mly (78 Mpc)
Z:0.020067 ± 0.000077
H Radial V:6,016 ± 23 km/s
Appmag V:13.9[2]
Size V:1.5 × 1.2
Constellation Name:Cetus
Notes:Galaxy merger, luminous infrared galaxy
Names:Arp 236, ESO 541-IG 023, VV 114, IRAS 1053-1746, PGC 4007/4008/4009

IC 1623 is a galaxy merger in the constellation Cetus. The galaxy lies about 250 million light years away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that IC 1623 is approximately 115,000 light years across. It was discovered by Lewis Swift on November 19, 1897.[3]

Characteristics

IC 1623 consists of two galaxies in the early to mid stages of merger. The nuclei of the two galaxies lie 20 arcseconds apart. The western component (VV 114W) is bright in ultraviolet and optical light[4] [5] and hosts a large number of optically luminous young star clusters.[6] The eastern component, VV 114E, is invisible at UV wavelengths and has prominent dust lanes that cover much of the diffuse light of the underlying stellar population at optical wavelengths.[4] [5] Beyond 1 μm, VV 114E increasingly becomes the dominant luminosity component of the merger,[4] being the brightest source in mid infrared. The whole galaxy shines bright in infrared and it is characterised as a luminous infrared galaxy, with a total infrared luminosity (LIR) of 5 × 1011 L⊙.[7]

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observed[8] the nucleus of the eastern galaxy in mid-infrared, revealing a northeastern and a southwestern core. The mid-infrared colors of these cores indicate that the northeastern core is associated with a starburst, while the southwestern core is linked to an active galactic nucleus (AGN).[9] [10] Spectral line analysis suggests the presence of a rapidly accreting intermediate-mass black hole in the southwestern nucleus, which may evolve into a supermassive black hole.[11] Additionally, JWST identified 40 star-forming regions with a total star formation rate ranging from 0.02 to 6 solar masses per year. There is also significant diffuse emission from filaments, primarily attributed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons heated by the star-forming regions and the underlying stellar population.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database . Results for IC 1623 . 2024-03-26 .
  2. Web site: Revised NGC Data for IC 1623 . spider.seds.org . 30 March 2024.
  3. Web site: Seligman . Courtney . IC 1623 (= Arp 236) . Celestial Atlas . 19 November 2018.
  4. Knop . R. A. . Soifer . B. T. . Graham . J. R. . Matthews . K. . Sanders . D. B. . Scoville . N. Z. . VV 114, a high infrared luminosity interacting galaxy system . The Astronomical Journal . March 1994 . 107 . 920 . 10.1086/116906. 1994AJ....107..920K .
  5. Goldader . Jeffrey D. . Meurer . Gerhardt . Heckman . Timothy M. . Seibert . Mark . Sanders . D. B. . Calzetti . Daniela . Steidel . Charles C. . Far-Infrared Galaxies in the Far-Ultraviolet . The Astrophysical Journal . April 2002 . 568 . 2 . 651–678 . 10.1086/339165. astro-ph/0112352 . 2002ApJ...568..651G .
  6. Linden . S. T. . Evans . A. S. . Larson . K. . Privon . G. C. . Armus . L. . Rich . J. . Díaz-Santos . T. . Murphy . E. J. . Song . Y. . Barcos-Muñoz . L. . Howell . J. . Charmandaris . V. . Inami . H. . U . V. . Surace . J. A. . Mazzarella . J. M. . Calzetti . D. . Massive Star Cluster Formation and Destruction in Luminous Infrared Galaxies in GOALS. II. An ACS/WFC3 Survey of Nearby LIRGs . The Astrophysical Journal . 1 December 2021 . 923 . 2 . 278 . 10.3847/1538-4357/ac2892. free . 2110.03638 . 2021ApJ...923..278L .
  7. Sanders. D. B.. Mazzarella. J. M.. Kim. D.-C.. Surace. J. A.. Soifer. B. T.. The IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample. The Astronomical Journal. October 2003. 126. 4. 1607–1664. 10.1086/376841. astro-ph/0306263. 2003AJ....126.1607S. 14825701.
  8. Web site: Webb Captures IC 1623 a pair of merging galaxies . 2024-05-23 . www.jameswebbdiscovery.com . en-US.
  9. Evans . A. S. . Frayer . D. T. . Charmandaris . Vassilis . Armus . Lee . Inami . Hanae . Surace . Jason . Linden . Sean . Soifer . B. T. . Diaz-Santos . Tanio . Larson . Kirsten L. . Rich . Jeffrey A. . Song . Yiqing . Barcos-Munoz . Loreto . Mazzarella . Joseph M. . Privon . George C. . 1 November 2022 . GOALS-JWST: Hidden Star Formation and Extended PAH Emission in the Luminous Infrared Galaxy VV 114 . The Astrophysical Journal Letters . 940 . 1 . L8 . 2208.14507 . 2022ApJ...940L...8E . 10.3847/2041-8213/ac9971 . free . U . Vivian . Medling . Anne M. . Böker . Torsten . Aalto . Susanne . Iwasawa . Kazushi . Howell . Justin H. . van der Werf . Paul . Appleton . Philip . Bohn . Thomas . Brown . Michael J. I. . Hayward . Christopher C. . Hoshioka . Shunshi . Kemper . Francisca . Lai . Thomas . Law . David . Malkan . Matthew A. . Marshall . Jason . Murphy . Eric J. . Sanders . David . Stierwalt . Sabrina. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license.
  10. Rich . J. . Aalto . S. . Evans . A. S. . Charmandaris . V. . Privon . G. C. . Lai . T. . Inami . H. . Linden . S. . Armus . L. . Diaz-Santos . T. . Appleton . P. . Barcos-Muñoz . L. . Böker . T. . Larson . K. L. . Law . D. R. . Malkan . M. A. . Medling . A. M. . Song . Y. . U . V. . van der Werf . P. . Bohn . T. . Brown . M. J. I. . Finnerty . L. . Hayward . C. . Howell . J. . Iwasawa . K. . Kemper . F. . Marshall . J. . Mazzarella . J. M. . McKinney . J. . Muller-Sanchez . F. . Murphy . E. J. . Sanders . D. . Soifer . B. T. . Stierwalt . S. . Surace . J. . GOALS-JWST: Pulling Back the Curtain on the AGN and Star Formation in VV 114 . The Astrophysical Journal Letters . 1 February 2023 . 944 . 2 . L50 . 10.3847/2041-8213/acb2b8. free . 2301.02338 . 2023ApJ...944L..50R .
  11. González-Alfonso . Eduardo . García-Bernete . Ismael . Pereira-Santaella . Miguel . Neufeld . David A. . Fischer . Jacqueline . Donnan . Fergus R. . February 2024 . JWST detection of extremely excited outflowing CO and H 2 O in VV 114 E SW: A possible rapidly accreting IMBH . Astronomy & Astrophysics . 682 . A182 . 2312.04914 . 10.1051/0004-6361/202348469.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "IC 1623".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.