About IC 1230
IC 1230 is an uncommon galaxy. It sits in the constellation Her.
Not one galaxy but two, locked in a gravitational embrace. Encounters like this shred spiral arms and trigger furious bursts of star formation.
Uncommon galaxy 32 EP
IC 1230
RA 251.2562° · Dec 51.2596° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Galaxy +14
- Interacting galaxy pair +14
- Elliptical galaxy +4
Total score 32
2 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Galaxy · +14
- Interacting galaxy pair · +14
- Elliptical galaxy · +4
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 Hercules.
- Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around June — 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
- Her
- dso type
- GPair
- hubble
- E
- name
- IC 1230
- size arcmin
- 0.92
- surface brightness
- 24.13
How to see it
Look for IC 1230 in the constellation Her.
Like any astronomical target, IC 1230 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 1230 is an uncommon galaxy
IC 1230 scores 32 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Galaxy, Interacting galaxy pair and Elliptical galaxy — 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.