astronomy

NGC 708

NGC 708 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 708 rather than just read about it. In short: NGC 708 is an elliptical galaxy located 240 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on September 21, 1786.

Key takeaways

NGC 708 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 708 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of NGC 708 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

NGC 708 is an elliptical galaxy located 240 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on September 21, 1786. It is classified as a cD galaxy and is the brightest member of Abell 262. NGC 708 is a weak FR I radio galaxy and is also classified as a type 2 Seyfert galaxy. NGC 708 is surrounded by 4,700 globular clusters.

Dust lane

Discovered in 1979 by Kotanyi et al., NGC 708 has a thin dust lane with an irregular structure. Besides the dust lane, there are also patches of dust that cross the nucleus. These features are oriented nearly perpendicular to the radio emission of the galaxy. The lane appears to be a nearly edge-on dust disk with a length of 16,000 ly (5 kpc). The dust lane appears to have formed from a cooling accretion flow of intracluster medium (ICM) onto NGC 708.

Supermassive black hole NGC 708 has a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of (2.9×108 M☉) (108.46) M☉. The supermassive black hole is powering the radio jets and lobes in the galaxy.

Radio morphology NGC 708 contains two radio jets that are mildly bent and extend into ''s'' shaped double radio lobes with a total length of 200,000 ly (60 kpc). Chandra observations have shown that the lobes have created a cavity in the intracluster medium of Abell 262.

Possible interaction NGC 708 may be interacting with NGC 705 which lies about 67,000 ly (20.6 kpc) to the south-west.

See also List of NGC objects (1–1000) Messier 87 NGC 1275

References

External links

NGC 708 on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with NGC 708

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what NGC 708 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 708 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 708 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 708

In research: NGC 708 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 708 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 708 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Abell 262, Andromeda (constellation), Astronomical objects discovered in 1786, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for NGC 708 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 708 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what NGC 708 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 708 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is NGC 708 in simple terms?

NGC 708 is an elliptical galaxy located 240 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on September 21, 1786.

Why does NGC 708 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 708?

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 708.