NGC 588
Diffuse nebula in the constellation Triangulum
NGC 588 is a prominent, giant H II ionized diffuse nebula located in the outskirts of the galaxy Messier 33's spiral arms, within the Triangulum constellation. It was discovered October 2, 1861, by the German-Danish astronomer Heinrich d'Arrest.
The nebula has two Wolf-Rayet stars, NGC 588-UIT 008 and NGC 588-MC3 and a fairly large population of main sequence stars of 2 to 20 solar masses. The more massive stars in the nebula have a mass of around 40 solar masses. NGC 588 is 4.2 million years old and has a mass of 2300 solar masses.
NGC 588 and NGC 592 (another nebula in the Triangulum galaxy) are both very prominent stellar nurseries in their regions.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “NGC 588”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- NGC 588 PanS.jpg by Donald Pelletier, CC BY-SA 4.0
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