astronomy

NGC 1614

NGC 1614 is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand NGC 1614 rather than just read about it. In short: NGC 1614 is the New General Catalogue identifier for a spiral galaxy in the equatorial constellation of Eridanus. It was discovered on December 29, 1885 by American astronomer Lewis Swift, who described it in a shorthand notation as: pretty faint, small, round, a little brighter middle.

Key takeaways

NGC 1614 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect NGC 1614 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of NGC 1614 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

NGC 1614 is the New General Catalogue identifier for a spiral galaxy in the equatorial constellation of Eridanus. It was discovered on December 29, 1885 by American astronomer Lewis Swift, who described it in a shorthand notation as: pretty faint, small, round, a little brighter middle. The nebula was then catalogued by Danish-Irish astronomer J. L. E. Drayer in 1888. When direct photography became available, it was noted that this galaxy displayed some conspicuous peculiarities. American astronomer Halton Arp included it in his 1966 Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. In 1971, Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky described it as a "blue post-eruptive galaxy, compact patchy core, spiral plumes, long blue jet SSW". In the De Vaucouleurs system for classifying galaxies, NGC 1614 has a galaxy morphological classification of SB(s)c pec. The SB indicates this is a barred spiral galaxy, while the '(s)' means it lacks a ring-like structure around the nucleus. The trailing 'c' describes the spiral arm structure as being loosely wound. The peculiar nature of the galaxy is noted with the 'pec.' abbreviation. The galaxy is bright at the center, with two nearly symmetrical inner spiral arms. It is a luminous infrared source, with total infrared luminosity is 1011.60 L☉, ranking 55th in the 2003 IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample, and is the second most luminous galaxy within 75 Mpc. This galaxy is undergoing a minor merger event with a gas-rich, low-mass companion galaxy, located in a tidal tail to the southwest of the nucleus. The main galaxy is estimated to be around 3−5 times as massive as the merging object. The interaction between the two galaxies is triggering a burst of star formation in NGC 1614, although not apparently an active galactic nucleus. It is described as "one of the most extreme nearby starbursts". In the core region, a 230 pc radius ring feature has formed around the nucleus within the last 5−10 million years from an inflow of gas caused by the merger event, and this structure is the site of the intense star forming activity known as a starburst region. This activity is bright enough that it is masking whatever weak nuclear emission there is coming from the core. The nucleus itself displays evidence of an older starburst event. The starburst activity is presumed to be driving an observed outflow of cold molecular gas that has a combined mass of around 32 million times the mass of the Sun.

Supernovae Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 1614:

SN 1996D (Type Ic, mag. 18.2) was discovered by L. Drissen, C. Robert, Y. Dutil, and J.-R. Roy on 9 February 1996. SN 2020cuj (Type II, mag. 20) was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility on 12 February 2020.

References

External links

"NGC 1614", The Hubble Space Telescope, NASA/ESA, April 24, 2008, retrieved 2016-03-21.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with NGC 1614

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what NGC 1614 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to NGC 1614 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about NGC 1614 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of NGC 1614

In research: NGC 1614 appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses NGC 1614 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: NGC 1614 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Arp objects, Barred spiral galaxies, Eridanus (constellation), so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for NGC 1614 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study NGC 1614 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what NGC 1614 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain NGC 1614 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is NGC 1614 in simple terms?

Why does NGC 1614 matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study NGC 1614?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on NGC 1614.