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NGC 1376
NGC 1376 is a spiral galaxy located around 180 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus.[1] It was discovered in 1785 by William Herschel, and it is 79,000 light-years across.[1] NGC 1376 is not known to have an active galactic nuclei, but it does have lots of star-forming regions.[2][3] CharacteristicsConcentrated along the spiral arms of NGC 1376, bright blue knots of gas highlight areas of active star formation.[4] These regions show an excess of light at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths because they contain brilliant clusters of hot, newborn stars that are emitting UV light.[2] The less intense, red areas near the core and between the arms consist mainly of older stars.[4][2] The reddish dust lanes delineate cooler, denser regions where interstellar clouds collapse to form new stars.[1] Behind the spiral arms is a sprinkling of reddish background galaxies.[2] NGC 1376 belongs to a class of spirals that are seen nearly face on from our line of sight.[1] Its orientation aids astronomers in studying details and features of the galaxy from a relatively unobscured vantage point.[2] NGC 1376 is home to a supernova (SN 1990go)[2] that rivaled the brightness of the entire nucleus (as seen from ground-based telescopes) for several weeks. This was observed in 1990.[2][3] References
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