NGC 986 is a barred spiral galaxy in the southern constellation of Fornax, located about 76 million light-years away. It was discovered on August 5, 1826, by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop, who described it as a "faint nebula, of an irregular round figure". The galaxy has an angular size of 3′.8 × 1′.9 with a visual magnitude of 10.9. It belongs to the Fornax Cluster of galaxies. This galaxy has a nearby companion, NGC 986A, at an angular separation of 17′, corresponding to a projected separation of 110 kpc. The two appear unconnected.
The morphological class of NGC 986 is (R′1)SB(rs)b, indicating this is a barred spiral (SB) with an outer pseudo-ring (R′1), an incomplete inner ring (rs), and moderately wound spiral arms (b). The galactic plane is inclined at an angle of 37° to the line of sight from the Earth. The resulting ellipsoidal profile has its major axis aligned along a position angle of 127°.
The nucleus of NGC 986 is undergoing intense star formation and there is an H II region at the core. The large central bar extends ~14 kpc and is rich in dense gas. The galaxy contains two large, extended and slightly warped arms that begin at each end of the central bar, forming an S-shape. There may be a tidally-disrupted dwarf galaxy at the end of its northern arm.
One supernova has been observed in NGC 986: SN 2018lei (type Ic, mag. 16.8).
References
^ "An Often Ignored Beauty". European Southern Observatory. 1 February 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
^ Kohno, Kotaro; et al. (June 2008). "ASTE CO(3-2) Observations of the Southern Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 986: a Large Gaseous Bar Filled with a Dense Molecular Medium". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 60 (3): 457–464. arXiv:0805.1491. Bibcode:2008PASJ...60..457K. doi:10.1093/pasj/60.3.457.
Media related to NGC 986 at Wikimedia Commons
