IC 438
Bar spiral galaxy in the constellation Lepus
IC 438 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Lepus. Its velocity with respect to the cosmic microwave background is 3,199±6 km/s, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of 153.9 ± 10.8 Mly (47.18 ± 3.30 Mpc). However, 17 non-redshift measurements give a much closer distance of 136.45 ± 4.29 Mly (41.835 ± 1.314 Mpc). It was discovered by American astronomer Lewis Swift on 7 January 1891.
IC 438 is a Seyfert I Galaxy, i.e. it has a quasar-like nucleus with very high surface brightnesses whose spectra reveal strong, high-ionisation emission lines, but unlike quasars, the host galaxy is clearly detectable.
IC 438 Group
According to A.M. Garcia, IC 438 is one of five members of the IC 438 galaxy group (also known as LGG 134), which includes IC 2143, UGCA 113, MCG-03-15-021, and ESO 555-5.
Supernovae
Three supernovae have been observed in IC 438:
SN 1997B (Type Ic, mag. 16.5) was discovered by Alessandro Gabrijelcic on 13 January 1997.
SN 2016blx (Type II, mag.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “IC 438” is bar spiral galaxy in the constellation Lepus. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through spiral, galaxy and constellation, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “IC 438” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.