NGC 4994
NGC 4993 was the site of GW170817, a collision of two neutron stars, the first astronomical event detected in both electromagnetic and gravitational radiation, a discovery given the Breakthrough of the Year award for 2017 by the journal Science. Detecting a gravitational wave event associated with the gamma-ray burst provided direct confirmation that binary neutron star collisions produce short gamma-ray bursts.
Physical characteristics
NGC 4993 has several concentric shells of stars and a large dust lane—with a diameter of approximately a few kiloparsecs—which surrounds the nucleus and is stretched out into an "s" shape. The dust lane appears to be connected to a small dust ring with a diameter of ~330 ly (0.1 kpc). These features in NGC 4993 may be the result of a recent merger with a gaseous late-type galaxy that occurred about 400 million years ago. However, Palmese et al. suggest that the galaxy involved in the merger was a gas-poor galaxy.
Dark matter content
NGC 4993 has a dark matter halo with an estimated mass of 193.9×10 M☉.
Globular clusters
NGC 4993 has an estimated population of 250 globular clusters.
The luminosity of NGC 4993 indicates that the globular cluster system surrounding the galaxy may be dominated by metal-poor globular clusters.
Supermassive black hole
NGC 4993 has a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of roughly 80 to 100 million solar masses (8×10 M☉).
Galactic nucleus activity
The presence of weak O III, NII and SII emission lines in the nucleus of NGC 4993 and the relatively high ratio of [NII]λ6583/Hα suggest that NGC 4993 is a low-luminosity AGN (LLAGN). The activity may have been triggered by gas from the late-type galaxy as it merged with NGC 4993.
Neutron star merger observations
In August 2017, rumors circulated regarding a short gamma-ray burst designated GRB 170817A, of the type conjectured to be emitted in the collision of two neutron stars. On 16 October 2017, the LIGO and Virgo collaborations announced that they had detected a gravitational wave event, designated GW170817. The gravitational wave signal matched prediction for the merger of two neutron stars, two seconds before the gamma-ray burst. The gravitational wave signal, which had a duration of about 100 seconds, was the first gravitational wave detection of the merger of two neutron stars.
An optical transient, AT 2017gfo (also known as SSS 17a), was detected in NGC 4993 11 hours after the gravitational wave and gamma-ray signals, allowing the location of the merger to be determined. The optical emission is thought to be due to a kilonova. The discovery of AT 2017gfo was the first observation (and first localisation) of an electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave source.
GRB 170817A was a gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected by NASA's Fermi and ESA's INTEGRAL on 17 August 2017. Although only localized to a large area of the sky, it is believed to correspond to the other two observations, in part due to its arrival time 1.7 seconds after the GW event.
See also
- Gravitational-wave astronomy
- List of gamma-ray bursts
- List of gravitational wave observations
- Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory
- Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory Pathfinder
References
- ^ Chou, Felicia; Washington, Dewayne; Porter, Molly (16 October 2017). "Release 17-083 - NASA Missions Catch First Light from a Gravitational-Wave Event". NASA. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 4993. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
- ^ Hjorth, Jens; Levan, Andrew J.; Tanvir, Nial R.; Lyman, Joe D.; Wojtak, Radosław; Schrøder, Sophie L.; Mandel, Ilya; Gall, Christa; Bruun, Sofie H. (16 October 2017). "The Distance to NGC 4993: The Host Galaxy of the Gravitational-wave Event GW170817". The Astrophysical Journal. 848 (2): L31. arXiv:1710.05856. Bibcode:2017ApJ...848L..31H. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa9110. hdl:2381/41880. S2CID 51812508.
- ^ Staff (2017). "Galaxy NGC 4993 - Galaxy in Hydra Constellation". dso-browser.com. Archived from the original on 16 September 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ Abbott, B. P.; Abbott, R.; Abbott, T. D.; Acernese, F.; Ackley, K.; Adams, C.; Adams, T.; Addesso, P.; Adhikari, R. X. (1 December 2017). "On the Progenitor of Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817". The Astrophysical Journal. 850 (2): L40. arXiv:1710.05838. Bibcode:2017ApJ...850L..40A. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa93fc. S2CID 29357210.
- ^ "NGC 4993". Deep Sky Observer's Companion. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- ^ "New General Catalog Objects: NGC 4950 - 4999". cseligman.com. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "Breakthrough of the year 2017". Science | AAAS. 22 December 2017.
- ^ Cho, Adrian (2017). "Cosmic convergence". Science. 358 (6370): 1520–1521. Bibcode:2017Sci...358.1520C. doi:10.1126/science.358.6370.1520. PMID 29269456.
- ^ Overbye, Dennis (16 October 2017). "LIGO Detects Fierce Collision of Neutron Stars for the First Time". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Blanchard, P. K.; Berger, E.; Fong, W.; Nicholl, M.; Leja, J.; Conroy, C.; Alexander, K. D.; Margutti, R.; Williams, P. K. G. (16 October 2017). "The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. VII. Properties of the Host Galaxy and Constraints on the Merger Timescale". The Astrophysical Journal. 848 (2): L22. arXiv:1710.05458. Bibcode:2017ApJ...848L..22B. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa9055. S2CID 119336499.
- ^ Im, Myungshin; Yoon, Yongmin; Lee, Seong-Kook J.; Lee, Hyung Mok; Kim, Joonho; Lee, Chung-Uk; Kim, Seung-Lee; Troja, Eleonora; Choi, Changsu (26 October 2017). "Distance and Properties of NGC 4993 as the Host Galaxy of the Gravitational-wave Source GW170817". The Astrophysical Journal. 849 (1): L16. arXiv:1710.05861. Bibcode:2017ApJ...849L..16I. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa9367. S2CID 55716501.
- ^ Ebrová, Ivana; Bílek, Michal (2020). "NGC 4993 the shell galaxy host of GW170817: constraints on the recent galactic merger". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 634: A73. arXiv:1801.01493. Bibcode:2020A&A...634A..73E. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201935219. S2CID 56354361.
- ^ Palmese, A.; Hartley, W.; Tarsitano, F.; Conselice, C.; Lahav, O.; Allam, S.; Annis, J.; Lin, H.; Soares-Santos, M. (9 November 2017). "Evidence for Dynamically Driven Formation of the GW170817 Neutron Star Binary in NGC 4993". The Astrophysical Journal. 849 (2): L34. arXiv:1710.06748. Bibcode:2017ApJ...849L..34P. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa9660. S2CID 55049352.
- ^ Lee, Myung Gyoon; Kang, Jisu; Im, Myungshin (20 May 2018). "A Globular Cluster Luminosity Function Distance to NGC 4993 Hosting a Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817/GRB 170817A". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 859 (1): L6. arXiv:1805.01127. Bibcode:2018ApJ...859L...6L. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aac2e9. S2CID 73713875.
- ^ Wu, Qingwen; Feng, Jianchao; Fan, Xuliang (6 March 2018). "The Possible Submillimeter Bump and Accretion-jet in the Central Supermassive Black Hole of NGC 4993". The Astrophysical Journal. 855 (1): 46. arXiv:1710.09590. Bibcode:2018ApJ...855...46W. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aaac28. S2CID 89606053.
- ^ Drake, Nadia (25 August 2017). "Strange stars caught wrinkling spacetime? Get the facts". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ^ Nakar, E. (2007). "Short-hard gamma-ray bursts". Physics Reports. 442 (1–6): 166–236. arXiv:astro-ph/0701748. Bibcode:2007PhR...442..166N. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.317.1544. doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2007.02.005. S2CID 119478065.
- ^ Landau, Elizabeth; Chou, Felicia; Washington, Dewayne; Porter, Molly (16 October 2017). "NASA Missions Catch First Light from a Gravitational-Wave Event". NASA. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Abbott, B.P.; et al. (16 October 2017). "GW 170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral". Physical Review Letters. 119 (16): 161101. arXiv:1710.05832. Bibcode:2017PhRvL.119p1101A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.161101. PMID 29099225. S2CID 217163611.
- ^ Cho, Adrian (16 October 2017). "Merging neutron stars generate gravitational waves and a celestial light show". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aar2149. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Krieger, Lisa M. (16 October 2017). "A Bright Light Seen Across The Universe, Proving Einstein Right - Violent collisions source of our gold, silver". The Mercury News. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Overbye, Dennis (16 October 2017). "LIGO Detects Fierce Collision of Neutron Stars for the First Time". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Abbott, B. P.; et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration & Virgo Collaboration) (16 October 2017). "GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral". Physical Review Letters. 119 (16): 161101. arXiv:1710.05832. Bibcode:2017PhRvL.119p1101A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.161101. PMID 29099225.
- ^ von Kienlin, Andreas (17 August 2017). "GCN Circular Number 21520; GRB 170817A: Fermi GBM detection; 2017-08-17 20:00:07 GMT". Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- ^ Castelvecchi, Davide (25 August 2017). "Rumours swell over new kind of gravitational-wave sighting". Nature. Nature News. doi:10.1038/nature.2017.22482. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ^ Sokol, Joshua (25 August 2017). "What Happens When Two Neutron Stars Collide?". Wired. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- "NGC 4993". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- "NGC 4993". DSO Browser. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- Courtney Seligman. "New General Catalog Objects: NGC 4950 – 4999". Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- Hartmut Frommert. "Revised NGC Data for NGC 4993". SEDS. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- GRB 170817A – NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED)
- GRB 170817A – Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE)
- GRB 170817A - INTEGRAL Science Data Center (ISDC)
- The galaxy NGC 4993 in the constellation of Hydra Starmap
- NGC 4993 on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images