NGC 7217

NGC 7217 is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Pegasus.

NGC 7217
Spiral Galaxy NGC 7217 by HST, 1.62′ view
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationPegasus
Right ascension 22h 07m 52.4s[1]
Declination+31° 21′ 33″[1]
Redshift952 ± 2 km/s[1]
Distance50.0 Mly
Apparent magnitude (V)11.0[1]
Characteristics
Type(R)SA(r)ab[1]
Apparent size (V)3′.9 × 3′.2[1]
Other designations
UGC 11914,[1] PGC 68096[1]

Features

NGC 7217 is a gas-poor system[2] whose main features are the presence of several rings of stars concentric to its nucleus: three main ones –the outermost one being of the most prominent and the one that features most of the gas and star formation of this galaxy –[2] plus several others inside the innermost one discovered with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope; a feature that suggests NGC 7217's central regions have suffered several starbursts.[3] There is also a very large and massive spheroid that extends beyond its disk.[4]

Other noteworthy features this galaxy has are the presence of a number of stars rotating in the opposite direction around the galaxy's center to most of them[5] and two distinct stellar populations: one of intermediate age on its innermost regions and a younger, metal-poor version on its outermost ones.[6]

It has been suggested these features were caused by a merger with another galaxy[7] and, in fact, computer simulations show that NGC 7217 could have been a large lenticular galaxy that merged with one or two smaller gas-rich ones of late Hubble type becoming the spiral galaxy we see today.;[6] however right now this galaxy is isolated in space, with no nearby major companions.[6] More recent research, however, presents a somewhat different scenario in which NGC 7217's massive bulge and halo would have been formed in a merger and the disk formed later (and is still growing) either accreting gas from the intergalactic medium or smaller gas-rich galaxies, or most likely from a previously existing reserve.[8]

NGC 7217 (Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona)

See also
  • Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512
  • NGC 7742, a very similar galaxy in the same constellation

References
  1. "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 7217. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
  2. Verdes-Montenegro, L.; Bosma, A. (1995). "The three rings of the isolated galaxy NGC 7217". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 300: 65. Bibcode:1995A&A...300...65V.
  3. Combes, F.; García-Burillo, S.; Boone, F.; Hunt, L.K.; et al. (2004). "Molecular gas in NUclei of GAlaxies (NUGA). II. The ringed LINER NGC 7217". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 414 (3): 857–872. arXiv:astro-ph/0310652. Bibcode:2004A&A...414..857C. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20031664.
  4. Buta, R.; van Driel, W.; Braine, J.; Combes, F.; et al. (1995). "NGC 7217: A Spheroid-dominated, Early-Type Resonance Ring Spiral Galaxy". The Astrophysical Journal. 450: 593. Bibcode:1995ApJ...450..593B. doi:10.1086/176169.
  5. Merrifield, M.R.; Kuijken, K. (1994). "Counterrotating stars in the disk of the SAB galaxy NGC 7217". Astrophysical Journal. 432 (2): 575–589. Bibcode:1994ApJ...432..575M. doi:10.1086/174596. hdl:1887/92276.
  6. Sil'Chenko, O.K.; Chillingarian, I.V.; Sotnikova, N.Y.; Afanasiev, Victor L. (2011). "Large-scale nested stellar discs in NGC 7217". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 414 (4): 3645–3655. arXiv:1103.1692. Bibcode:2011MNRAS.414.3645S. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18665.x.
  7. Sil'Chenko, O.K.; Moiseev, A.V. (2006). "Nature of Nuclear Rings in Unbarred Galaxies: NGC 7742 and NGC 7217". The Astronomical Journal. 131 (6): 1336–1346. arXiv:astro-ph/0512431. Bibcode:2006AJ....131.1336S. doi:10.1086/499945.
  8. Fabricius, M. H.; Coccato, Lodovico; Bender, R.; Drory, N.; Gössl, C.; Landriau, M.; Saglia, R. P.; Thomas, J.; Williams, M. J. (2009). "Regrowth of stellar discs in mature galaxies: the two-component nature of NGC 7217 revisited with VIRUS-W". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 441 (3): 2212–2229. arXiv:1404.2272. Bibcode:2014MNRAS.441.2212F. doi:10.1093/mnras/stu694.


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