Niue 1 Dollar Silver Coin 2015 The Most Beautiful Galaxies - Spiral Galaxy NGC 1232
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 first coin in series is dedicated to the Spiral Galaxy NGC 1232. It is about 100 million light years away in the Eridanus constellation. The coin comes in two versions: pure silver .999 and 24-carat gold-plated brass.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 1232
NGC 1232 is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus.
It is dominated by millions of bright stars and dark dust, in spiral arms rotating about the center. Open clusters containing bright blue stars are sprinkled along these spiral arms, with dark lanes of dense interstellar dust between. Less visible are dim normal stars and interstellar gas, producing such high mass that they dominate the dynamics of the inner galaxy. Not visible is matter of unknown form called dark matter, needed to explain the motions of the visible material in the outer galaxy. The galaxy is approximately 200,000 light-years across, in between the sizes of the Andromeda Galaxy and our home galaxy, the Milky Way.
NGC 1232 and its satellite are part of the Eridanus cluster of galaxies, along with NGC 1300.
NGC 1232A
NGC 1232A is a satellite galaxy of NGC 1232. It is thought to be the cause of unusual bending in the spiral arms. In 1988, NGC 1232A was estimated to be 68 million light-years away while NGC 1232 was estimated to be 65 million light-years away.