1/16/2024 0 Comments Elliptical vs spiral galaxyThis corresponds to a physical size of 13,700 light years (4.2 kiloparsecs) across, the largest core size in any galaxy observed. Black holeĪ study published in 2017 reported an exceptionally large core in IC 1101, about 2.77 arcseconds in apparent size. As the stars reach the end of their lives, IC 1101 will gradually shrink and, unless it keeps colliding with younger galaxies, it will eventually fade away. The old stars give the galaxy a yellowish hue. However, with very little star-forming activity taking place in IC 1101, the galaxy is left mostly with old, metal-poor stars that will reach the end of their lives in the relatively near astronomical future. In comparison, our galaxy hosts between 100 and 400 billion stars. IC 1101 contains 100 trillion stars, and they give it a staggering luminosity. Galaxy size comparison, image: Wikimedia Commons/Sagittarius A (CC BY-SA 4.0) Stars If IC 1101 replaced our galaxy in the Local Group, it would engulf Andromeda, Triangulum, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, and everything in between. The entire Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way, Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies, spans 9.8 million light years. IC 1101 spans 4 million light years – some estimates even give the galaxy a diameter of 6 million light years – while the Milky Way has a visible diameter of 150,000 to 200,000 light years. The many collisions have stripped the galaxies of star-forming gas and dust, resulting in very little active star formation taking place in IC 1101. The immense size of IC 1101 is believed to be the result of many smaller galaxies merging with each other. For this reason, the half-light radius is used as a measurement. Longer exposures with larger telescopes will always reveal more than shorter ones in smaller instruments. It does not reflect the galaxy’s actual size, which is difficult to measure because galaxies do not have clear boundaries, but simply get fainter further from the core.Īdditionally, a galaxy’s apparent size changes depending on the size and sensitivity of the telescope, as well as on the length of time for which the galaxy is observed. Also called the half-light radius, the effective radius is the radius at which half of the galaxy’s light is emitted. IC 1101 has an angular size of 1.20 by 0.60 arcminutes and an effective radius of about 212,000 light years. The halo of IC 1101 stretches about 2 million light years (600 kiloparsecs) from the core, making the galaxy one of the largest ones discovered to date, with a diameter of about 4 million light years.
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