Galaxy NGC 908
History
This galaxy was discovered by William Herschel on 20 September 1789 using his 18.7 inch reflector. He cataloged it as I 153 and noted: «Considerably bright, very large, extended, south proceeding, north following, above 15' length.» [463] Dreyer added it as NGC 908 to his «New General Catalogue» published in 1888. [313]
Physical Properties
NGC 908 is a spiral galaxy in a distance of 65 million light-years and 75 000 light-years in size. It is a starburst galaxy that is undergoing a phase where many stars are born at a high rate. Clusters of young and massive stars can be seen in the spiral arms. The galaxy also presents uneven and thick spiral arms, indicating that it suffered a close encounter with another galaxy, even none is visible today. [640]
| Designation | NGC 908 |
| Type | Gx (SBc) |
| Right Ascension (J2000.0) | 02h 23m 04.6s |
| Declination (J2000.0) | -21° 14' 00" |
| Diameter | 6.1 × 2.7 arcmin |
| Photographic (blue) magnitude | 10.8 mag |
| Visual magnitude | 10.2 mag |
| Surface brightness | 13.0 mag·arcmin-2 |
| Position Angle | 75° |
| Redshift (z) | 0.005033 |
| Distance derived from z | 21.26 Mpc |
| Metric Distance | 17.620 Mpc |
| Dreyer Description | cB, vL, E |
| Identification, Remarks | WH I 153; GC 536; ESO 545-11; MCG -4-6-35; UGCA 29; IRAS 02207-2127 |
Finder Chart
The galaxy NGC 908 is located in the constellation Cetus, close to Eridanus and Fornax. On 30 October it is in opposition to the Sun and crosses the meridian at local midnight. The best observation time is September to December.
