About IC 409
IC 409 is a rare galaxy. It sits in the constellation Ori.
Not one galaxy but two, locked in a gravitational embrace. Encounters like this shred spiral arms and trigger furious bursts of star formation.
Rare galaxy 38 EP
IC 409
RA 79.8898° · Dec 3.3184° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Galaxy +14
- Interacting galaxy pair +14
- In Orion's hunting ground +6
- Elliptical galaxy +4
Total score 38
12 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Galaxy · +14
- Interacting galaxy pair · +14
- Elliptical galaxy · +4
- In Orion's hunting ground · +6
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. Not one galaxy but two, locked in a gravitational embrace. Encounters like this shred spiral arms and trigger furious bursts of star formation.
- Elliptical. An elliptical galaxy: a smooth swarm of stars on randomly tilted orbits, with almost no cold gas left to build anything new.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. Galaxies pass through each other almost without collisions — the stars are so far apart that they simply miss.
- Scale. Home to hundreds of billions of stars — a universe unto itself, and every one of those points of light could have planets.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Orion.
- Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around December — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Red and dead. Ellipticals glow reddish because every short-lived blue star they ever had has already died. Astronomers call them 'red and dead'.
Properties
- constellation
- Ori
- dso type
- GPair
- hubble
- E
- name
- IC 409
- size arcmin
- 0.95
- surface brightness
- 23.63
How to see it
Look for IC 409 in the constellation Ori.
Like any astronomical target, IC 409 is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why IC 409 is a rare galaxy
IC 409 scores 38 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 12 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Galaxy, Interacting galaxy pair, Elliptical galaxy and In Orion's hunting ground — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.