NGC 289

NGC 289 is a spiral galaxy in the southern constellation of Sculptor, located at a distance of 76 megalight-years from the Milky Way.^[3] It was discovered on September 27, 1834, by John Herschel. The compiler of the New General Catalogue, John Louis Emil Dreyer, noted that NGC 289 was "pretty bright, large, extended, between 2 considerably bright stars".^[4] The plane of the galaxy is inclined by an angle of 45° to the line of sight from the Earth.^[5]

NGC 289
Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 289
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Sculptor
Right ascension	00h 52m 42.365s[1]
Declination	−31° 12′ 20.99″[1]
Redshift	0.0054[2]
Heliocentric radial velocity	1,628 km/s[3]
Distance	76.1 Mly (23.33 Mpc)[3]
Apparent magnitude (V)	11.0[4]
Apparent magnitude (B)	11.4[2]
Characteristics
Type	SB(rs)bc[5]
Apparent size (V)	3.1' x 2.5'[4]
Other designations
MCG -05-03-010, IRAS 00502-3128,[2] PGC 3089, 2MASSX J00524236-3112209

This is a Type II Seyfert galaxy with an active galactic nucleus. A dust lane is seen crossing the nucleus, and there are indications of recent starburst activity nearby.^[6] NGC 289 is a giant, gas-rich, low surface brightness galaxy with a small bulge at the nucleus, a small central bar, and two inner spiral arms. These arms split into multiple parts as they extend into the outer disk. The galaxy has a dark matter halo that has an estimated 3.5 times the mass of the gaseous and stellar components. There is a dwarf elliptical companion to the north of the galaxy,^[7] designated Arp 1981,^[6] that may be having a perturbing influence.^[7]

Gallery

• 
  Spiral Galaxy NGC 289 taken at ChileScope Observatory (W76), near Ovalle, Chile. Image courtesy Adam Block.
• 
  Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 289