NGC 1052

NGC 1052 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Cetus. It was discovered on January 10, 1785 by the astronomer William Herschel.^[3] It is a member of the eponymous NGC 1052 Group.^[1]

NGC 1052
NGC 1052 (center left) and NGC 1042 (center right) as imaged by Schulman Telescope. Credit: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Right ascension	02h 41m 04.79851s[1]
Declination	−08° 15′ 20.7517″[1]
Redshift	0.004930[1]
Heliocentric radial velocity	1474 ± 26 km/s[1]
Distance	62.0 Mly (19.00 Mpc)[2]
Group or cluster	NGC 1052 Group[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)	10.47[2]
Apparent magnitude (B)	11.41[2]
Characteristics
Type	E4[2]
Apparent size (V)	3.0′ × 2.1′[2]
Other designations
MCG -01-07-034, PGC 10175[1]

Features

NGC 1052 is located at a distance of around 63 million light years from the Milky Way,^[4] and has a LINER-type active galactic nucleus which signals the intense starburst activity in the galaxy's center^[5] that were confirmed with observations with better resolution showing a number of star-forming regions and young star clusters.^[6]

NGC 1052 shows also two small jets emerging from its nucleus as well as a very extended disc of neutral hydrogen, far larger than the galaxy itself.^[7] Additionally, the stars and the ionized gas rotate along different axes.^[8] All these features suggesting a gas-rich galaxy collided and merged with it 1 billion years ago producing all the above features.^[6]

The shape of NGC 1052 is thought to be a triaxial ellipsoid. The longest axis of the ellipsoid is probably aligned at a position angle of −41°, which is the axis around which the ionized gas would be rotating.^[8]

A scale image of NGC 1052 and its satellite galaxies is available at the reference.^[9]

Central black hole

NGC 1052 hosts a rapidly rotating supermassive black hole with a mass of 154 million M_☉^[10] with a large magnetic field of 2.6 Tesla,^[11] which, according to astronomer Anne-Kathrin Baczko, the leader of the team that made this discovery, provides enough magnetic energy to power the previously mentioned twin relativistic jets.^[12]

This black hole is a promising target for imaging by the Event Horizon Telescope.^[11] The location of the black hole in NGC 1052 was by 2016 the most precisely known in the universe, with the exception of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole found at the heart of our own galaxy.^[12][11]

See also

• NGC 1052-DF2, a galaxy assumed to be associated with NGC 1052, and which appears to have little or no dark matter
• NGC 1052-DF4, another galaxy assumed to be associated with NGC 1052, and which appears to have little or no dark matter^[13]