NGC 1369 is a barred lenticular galaxy located 59 million light years away in constellation of Eridanus. The galaxy was discovered by astronomer Julius Schmidt on January 19, 1865, and is a member of the Fornax Cluster. NGC 1369 is a host to a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of 1.8 million solar masses.
Surrounding NGC 1369 is a population of a least 11 known globular clusters.
Physical characteristics
In the disk of NGC 1369, there are two bright, diffuse spiral arms which break of a relatively weak bar structure. These arms quickly fade in the diffuse outer disk. Despite the presence of spiral arms, the galaxy is very red which actually makes NGC 1369 a lenticular galaxy. Also, the galaxy is devoid of atomic and molecular gas, and does not show any indications of ionised-gas emission as a result of star formation. Observations in X-rays have shown that it is infalling in a transional region of the Fornax Cluster between the high and low-density regions of the cluster where the X-ray emission is still present. As a result, ram-pressure stripping would have acted to stop star formation once the galaxy entered into the cluster core, causing it to transion from a spiral galaxy to a lenticular galaxy.
Supernova
One supernova has been observed in NGC 1369: SN 1969A (type unknown, mag. 17) was discovered by Enrique Chavira on 8 January 1969.
