Astr110 Photography Projects, Fall 2006

Barnard's Galaxy (NGC 6822), Kristen Groenewal

This is a picture of Barnard's Galaxy. A galaxy is about 100 billion stars all clumped together. It is not a typical galaxy but an irregular galaxy. An irragular galaxy is a galaxy that does not fit into the regular classifications of a galaxy.Barnard is not near to be a regular galaxy with that many stars. Barnard's Galaxy is located about 1.5 million light years away. The size of this galaxy is 3054.3 light years. I found this by usuing the small angle formula and the angular size of the object in the picture. This particular galaxy was first discovered by E.E. Barnard in 1884.It is right behind Magellanic, a cloud where there has been Cepheid variables discovered.

Also known as, NGC 6822, the star distribution forms what is called a dwarf irregular, and from most points of view appears to be almost rectangular. Many emission nebulas are seen around the galaxy. Hubble V has found its home here in this small galaxy. Many pictures shown of Barnard's Galaxy is seen with a blueish color, this means that new stars have begain to form.

Work Cited:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020123.html