astronomy

NGC 959

NGC 959 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 959 rather than just read about it. In short: NGC 959 is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Triangulum. It was discovered on 9 November 1876 by French astronomer Édouard Stephan.

Key takeaways

NGC 959 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 959 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of NGC 959 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

NGC 959 is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Triangulum. It was discovered on 9 November 1876 by French astronomer Édouard Stephan. This galaxy is located at a distance of 36 million light years and is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 596 km/s. It is a member of the NGC 1023 Group of galaxies. The morphological class of this galaxy is Sdm:, indicating it is a spiral (S) with disorganized, irregular arms and no central bulge (dm). The ':' suffix indicates some uncertainty about the classification. It has a visual magnitude of 12.4. The galactic plane is inclined at an angle of 50° to the plane of the sky, giving it an elliptical profile with the major axis aligned along a position angle of 65°. The size of the D25 ellipse (where the brightness of the galaxy drops to magnitude 25) is 2.3 × 1.4 arcminutes. When images of NGC 959 are corrected for the effects of extinction from dust, a central bar feature can be discerned. The galaxy then shows a non-negligible bulge or central condensation, and may instead have a morphological type of SBcd. It displays a cuspy central density profile and bulge-like monotonic decrease in ellipticity toward the core.

References

External links

"Results for object NGC 0959 (NGC 959)". NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED). California Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2022-01-19.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with NGC 959

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what NGC 959 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 959 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 959 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 959

In research: NGC 959 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 959 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 959 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Astronomical objects discovered in 1876, Discoveries by Édouard Stephan, Dwarf spiral galaxies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for NGC 959 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 959 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what NGC 959 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 959 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is NGC 959 in simple terms?

NGC 959 is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Triangulum. It was discovered on 9 November 1876 by French astronomer Édouard Stephan.

Why does NGC 959 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 959?

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 959.