NGC 5668

NGC 5668 is a nearly face-on spiral galaxy located about 81[2] million light years away in the constellation Virgo. As seen from the Earth, it is inclined by an angle of 18° to the line of sight along a position angle of 145°. The morphological classification in the De Vaucouleurs system is SA(s)d,[2] indicating a pure spiral structure with loosely wound arms.[4] However, optical images of the galaxy indicate the presence of a weak bar structure spanning an angle of 12″ across the nucleus. There is a dwarf galaxy located around 650×10^3 ly (200 kpc) to the southeast of NGC 5668, and the two may be gravitationally interacting.[2]

NGC 5668
GALEX image of NGC 5668
Observation data
ConstellationVirgo
Right ascension 14h 33m 24.331s[1]
Declination+04° 27′ 01.75″[1]
Helio radial velocity1,582 ± 5[2] km/s
Distance80.9 ± 5.5 million light years (24.8 ± 1.7 Mpc)[2]
Characteristics
TypeSA(s)d[2]
Mass5.7×1010[2] M☉
Other designations
UGC 9363[3]

Three supernovae have been observed in this galaxy: SN 1952G, SN 1954B, and SN 2004G.[5] The last, a type II supernova,[6] was initially imaged on January 19, 2004, at 43" to the west and 12".5 south of the galaxy core.[5] High velocity clouds of neutral hydrogen have been observed in NGC 5668, which may have their origin in supernova explosions and strong stellar winds.[7]

References
  1. Skrutskie, M. F.; et al. (February 2006), "The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)", The Astronomical Journal, 131 (2): 1163–1183, Bibcode:2006AJ....131.1163S, doi:10.1086/498708.
  2. R. A., Marino; et al. (July 2012), "Integral Field Spectroscopy and Multi-wavelength Imaging of the nearby Spiral Galaxy NGC 5668: An Unusual Flattening in Metallicity Gradient", The Astrophysical Journal, 754 (1): 61, arXiv:1205.5051, Bibcode:2012ApJ...754...61M, doi:10.1088/0004-637X/754/1/61.
  3. "NGC 5668 -- Galaxy", SIMBAD Astronomical Database, Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg, retrieved 2013-07-11.
  4. Buta, Ronald J.; et al. (2007), Atlas of Galaxies, Cambridge University Press, pp. 13–17, ISBN 978-0521820486.
  5. Nakano, S.; et al. (2004), "Supernova 2004G in NGC 5668", IAU Circular, 8272: 1, Bibcode:2004IAUC.8272....1N.
  6. Elias-Rosa, N.; et al. (2004), "Supernova 2004G in NGC 5668", IAU Circular, 8273: 2, Bibcode:2004IAUC.8273....2E.
  7. Jiménez-Vicente, J.; Battaner, E. (June 2000), "Vertical motions in the disk of NGC 5668 as seen with optical Fabry-Perot spectroscopy", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 358: 812–818, arXiv:astro-ph/0004295, Bibcode:2000A&A...358..812J.
  • Media related to NGC 5668 at Wikimedia Commons


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.