Right ascension 23 39.9 Type SAB(s)a pec Magnitude 11.5 Apparent magnitude (V) 11.5 | Declination −12° 17′ 34″ Apparent size (V) 4.7′ × 3.5′ Constellation Aquarius | |
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People also search for NGC 7600, NGC 7759, NGC 7252 | ||
NGC 7727 is a peculiar galaxy in the constellation Aquarius.
Features
This object is located at a distance of 23.3 megaparsecs (76 million light years) of the Milky Way and has a peculiar aspect, with several plumes and streams of irregular shape that explains its inclusion on Halton C. Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies with the number 222, being classified as a "Galaxy with amorphous spiral arms".
In all likelihood, this system is the product of the merger of two previous spiral galaxies that took place 1 billion years ago, with the aforementioned stellar plumes and streams being the remmants of the disks of the two galaxies that collided to form this object.
Two starlike objects can be seen in NGC 7727's center, at least one of them likely being the former core of one of those two spiral galaxies. In addition to this, 23 objects--candidates to be young globular clusters formed in the collision--can be found in this system.
NGC 7727 is very similar to NGC 7252, another galaxy product of the collision and merging of two former spiral galaxies, in the same constellation. However it has far less gas (neutral hydrogen and molecular hydrogen) than the latter.
NGC 7727's most likely fate is to become an elliptical galaxy in the future, with very little interstellar dust and star formation