NGC 1042 in Cetus

October 2025 - Galaxy of the Month

NGC 1042 is part of a small group of galaxies called the NGC 1052 group which includes the galaxies NGC 1052 and NGC 1035.

Two of the galaxies, NGC 1035 and NGC 1052, were discovered by William Herschel in 1785, whilst the fainter face on spiral NGC 1042 was discovered by Lewis Swift in 1885 using a 16” refractor. Swift also discovered the much fainter galaxy in the same field known as NGC 1047. There are two very much fainter galaxies in the same field in NGC 1048 and NGC 1048A, also known as VV 1040, also found by Swift. There is some confusion over which galaxies Swift actually found as his positions are not great but for simplicity this is the way they are numbered.

NGC 1047 may be part of the NGC 1052 group but NGC 1049 is much further away. The group lies at about 63 million light-years from the earth and the galaxies have interacted in the past.

NGC 1052 has an AGN of the LINER type with a starburst region in its nucleus along with a couple of small jets. It also hosts a supermassive black hole at its centre. NGC 1052 is classified as a triaxial ellipsoid galaxy of type E4. NGC 1052 also made the news as it appears to be associated with a small galaxy catalogued as NGC 1052-DF2 which has almost no dark matter associated with it.

NGC 1042 on the other hand is a face on spiral galaxy. Its classification has been a source of confusion with some sources suggesting it is a barred spiral of SAB(rs)cd form whilst others suggesting it is an unbarred spiral galaxy. The nucleus which is very small also hosts a black hole at its centre. It is probably interacting with the smaller galaxy NGC 1035 at this time. NGC 1035 is thought to be an Sc type galaxy seen almost edge on. Images from the GALEX satellite in the UV show a lot of star formation activity in both NGC 1042 and NGC 1035, which would follow if they are interacting.

These three galaxies are also part of the group LGG 71 which lists 14 galaxies in it. There is a nice Hubble image of NGC 1042 on Wikipedia.

All the galaxies are quite close together and will fit in a medium power field using a modern hyperwide field eyepiece at say 159x. NGC 1052 makes it into the Astronomical League’s Herschel 400 list and the pair make it into the Astronomical League’s Two in a View list. Steve Gottlieb suggests that all the galaxies can be seen, albeit it faintly, with a 17.5” telescope and the brighter ones with a 13.1”. Interestingly The Night Sky Observer's Guide Vol. 1 suggests that all these galaxies are visible with a 8-10” scope. I find that a little hard to believe but then these observations are probably from Arizona. They make no mention of NGC 1047 being visible.

Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director