NGC 1427

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title: "NGC 1427" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["elliptical-galaxies", "fornax-cluster", "fornax", "ngc-objects", "principal-galaxies-catalogue-objects", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1837"] description: "Galaxy in the constellation Fornax" topic_path: "science/astronomy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_1427" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Galaxy in the constellation Fornax ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Galaxy"]

Field	Value
image	NGC 1427 Hubble WikiSky.jpg
image_size	270px
caption	Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 1427
name	NGC 1427
epoch	J2000
type	E5{{cite web
title	NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database
work	Results for NGC 1427
url	http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/
access-date	2006-12-13 }}
ra
dec
dist_ly	71 ± 8 Mly (21.9 ± 2.4 Mpc){{cite journal
author	Jensen, Joseph B.
title	Measuring Distances and Probing the Unresolved Stellar Populations of Galaxies Using Infrared Surface Brightness Fluctuations
journal	Astrophysical Journal
date	February 2003
volume	583
issue	2
pages	712–726
bibcode	2003ApJ...583..712J
doi	10.1086/345430
arxiv	astro-ph/0210129
z	0.004630
appmag_v	11.8
size	~33.49 kpc (estimated)
constellation name	Fornax
notes	Low-luminosity elliptical galaxy
names	ESO 358- G 052, MCG -06-09-021, FCC 276, PGC 13609
h_radial_v	1388 ± 3 km/s
::

| image = NGC 1427 Hubble WikiSky.jpg | image_size = 270px | caption = Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 1427 | name = NGC 1427 | epoch = J2000 | type = E5{{cite web | title=NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database | work=Results for NGC 1427 | url=http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/ | access-date=2006-12-13 }} | ra = | dec = | dist_ly = 71 ± 8 Mly (21.9 ± 2.4 Mpc){{cite journal | author=Jensen, Joseph B. |display-authors=4 | author2=Tonry, John L. | author3=Barris, Brian J. | author4=Thompson, Rodger I. | author5=Liu, Michael C. | author6=Rieke, Marcia J. | author7=Ajhar, Edward A. | author8=Blakeslee, John P. | title=Measuring Distances and Probing the Unresolved Stellar Populations of Galaxies Using Infrared Surface Brightness Fluctuations | journal=Astrophysical Journal |date=February 2003 | volume=583 | issue=2 | pages=712–726 | bibcode=2003ApJ...583..712J | doi=10.1086/345430 |arxiv = astro-ph/0210129 |s2cid=551714 }} | z = 0.004630 | appmag_v = 11.8 | size = ~33.49 kpc (estimated) | constellation name = Fornax | notes =Low-luminosity elliptical galaxy | names = ESO 358- G 052, MCG -06-09-021, FCC 276, PGC 13609 |h_radial_v=1388 ± 3 km/s|size_v=3.6 x 2.5|mass=7.9 (Stellar mass)/9.4 (Total Mass)|absmag_v=−20.43|group_cluster=Fornax Cluster}}

NGC 1427 is a low-luminosity elliptical galaxy located approximately 71 million light-years away from Earth. It was discovered by John Frederick William Herschel on November 28, 1837. It is a member of the Fornax Cluster. However, the mass of the dark matter halo surrounding the galaxy is around 4.3 × 1012 M☉.

Characteristics

NGC 1427 is the brightest elliptical galaxy on the eastern side of the Fornax cluster, and is thought to have been accreted into the gravtional potential well of the cluster core more than 8 billion years ago. It is around 9 billion years old.

In the galaxy, dust patches are observed, with the central region being host to a nuclear stellar disk with an estimated diameter of 16 pc. NGC 1427 is surrounded by 71 observed planetary nebulae.

The galaxy has a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of 9.1 × 107 M☉.

Globular clusters

NGC 1427 is surrounded by a population of around 470 globular clusters, however estimates suggest that number may be as high as 510. It has a bimodal distribution of one population of metal-rich red clusters and another population of metal-poor blue clusters. The blue globular clusters have an abundance ratio of [Fe/H] = -1.02 ± 0.2, greater than that of the globular clusters in the halo of the Milky Way, while the red globular clusters have an abundance ratio of [Fe/H] = -0.15 making them more metal rich than the globular clusters in the bulge of the Milky Way. This suggests that the red globular clusters have more similarities to the metal-rich globular clusters found in disk galaxies unlike in giant elliptical galaxies like M87. Therefore as the red globular clusters have a higher metallicity than the blue globular clusters, this suggests that red globular clusters are younger than the blue global clusters, possibly having formed from ether galaxy mergers or another local galactic processes.

Galaxy mergers

Computer simulations and observations of the inner stellar halo of NGC 1427, by Zhu et al. suggest that the formation of the galaxy's stellar halo requires the merger of a massive satellite galaxy of around with NGC 1427 which is about one-fourth of its current stellar mass.

Also, the stars in NGC 1427's stellar halo are younger than most stars in the bulge; with these stars being the youngest in the galaxy. The stellar age distribution of the hot inner stellar halo of NGC 1427 indicates that this merger occurred within the last 8 billion years. Based on current understanding of galaxy evolution, stars in the inner halo of NGC 1427 should have formed before the massive merger ended, either in a preexisting disk of NGC 1427 or in the satellite galaxy before and during the merger, because of the triggering of star formation.

References

References

1. (November 2009). "Globular cluster system erosion in elliptical galaxies". Astronomy & Astrophysics.
2. (2001-04-01). "The Globular Cluster System of the Low-Luminosity Elliptical Galaxy NGC 1427". The Astronomical Journal.
3. "New General Catalog Objects: NGC 1400 - 1449".
4. Ferguson, Henry C.. (August 1989). "Population studies in groups and clusters of galaxies. II - A catalog of galaxies in the central 3.5 deg of the Fornax Cluster". The Astronomical Journal.
5. (2014-03-01). "Star Formation Bimodality in Early-type Galaxies". The Astrophysical Journal.
6. (2008-03-01). "The connection between globular cluster systems and their host galaxy and environment: a case study of the isolated elliptical NGC 821". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
7. (2019-01-01). "Nonlinear Color-Metallicity Relations of Globular Clusters. VIII. Reproducing Color Distributions of Individual Globular Cluster Systems in the Virgo and Fornax Galaxy Clusters". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.
8. (1995-05-01). "Ellipticals with Kinematically Distinct Cores: WFPC1 Imaging of Nearby Ellipticals". The Astronomical Journal.
9. (2010-09-01). "A census of nuclear stellar discs in early-type galaxies". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
10. (2021-09-01). "The Fornax3D project: Planetary nebulae catalogue and independent distance measurements to Fornax cluster galaxies". Astronomy and Astrophysics.
11. (2021-06-01). "The NANOGrav 11 yr Data Set: Limits on Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Galaxies within 500 Mpc". The Astrophysical Journal.
12. (2022). "The Fornax3D project: Discovery of ancient massive merger events in the Fornax cluster galaxies NGC 1380 and NGC 1427". Astronomy & Astrophysics.

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