Niue 1 Dollar Silver Coin 2015 The Most Beautiful Galaxies
NGC 1313 Topsy-Turvy Galaxy
The Most Beautiful Galaxies series
The Most Beautiful Galaxies series was designed in collaboration with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) – the leading intergovernmental astronomy organization in Europe. The third coin in the series is dedicated to the Topsy-Turvy Galaxy NGC 1313.The traditional obverse of the coin by Niue bears the portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II surrounded by the following inscriptions: the Queen’s name, the face value of the coin, its issuing year and country.
The reverse features an image of God taken from the “Ancient of Days” by W. Blake, drawing a circle around a selected galaxy with a compass. The colored image of a galaxy was taken in 1998 with one of the first Very Large Telescopes (VLT) located in the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The image was perfectly imprinted in high resolution technology. The background image represents a monochord – an ancient one-string musical instrument that symbolizes deep exploration of music and cosmology.
Country: Niue.
Year: 2015.
Denomination: 1 NZD - legal tender in New Zealand.
Metal: Silver.
Fineness: .999.
Weight: 17.5g (0.56oz).
Diameter: 38.61 mm.
Embellished with digital micro printing.
Very low mintage - limited to only 2015 pieces.
Finish: Proof.
The Most Beautiful Galaxies series
The entire collection will comprise:The Tinker Bell Triplet, The Topsy-Turvy Galaxy NGC 1313, Messier 100 NGC 4321,
The Active Galaxy NGC 4945, The Centre of the Active Galaxy NGC 1097, Centaurus A, Antenna Galaxies, The Sombrero Galaxy, Spiral Galaxy NGC 1232.
NGC 1313
NGC 1313 (also known as the Topsy Turvy Galaxy) is a field galaxy and a barred spiral galaxy discovered by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop on 27 September 1826. It has a diameter of about 50,000 light-years, or one-third the size of the Milky Way.
Features
NGC 1313 has a strikingly uneven shape and its axis of rotation is not exactly in its centre. NGC 1313 also shows strong starburst activity and associated supershells. NGC 1313 is dominated by scattered patches of intense star formation, which gives the galaxy a rather ragged appearance. The uneven shape, the ragged appearance and the strong starburst can all be explained by a galactic collision in the past. However, NGC 1313 seems to be an isolated galaxy and has no direct neighbours. Therefore, it is not clear whether it has swallowed a small companion in its past.
Observations has shown that young, blue stars are scattered across the galaxy. This is evidence of infant mortality in which the young open clusters quickly became gravitationally "unglued" and scattered their resident stars into the galaxy. The galaxy bears some resemblance to the Magellanic Clouds and hosts two ultraluminous X-ray sources, called NGC 1313 X-1 and X-2. The former is a rare intermediate-mass black hole.