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NGC 5121

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NGC 5121
NGC 5121 imaged by Hubble Space Telescope
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationCentaurus
Right ascension13h 24m 45.6245s[1]
Declination−37° 40′ 55.852″[1]
Redshift0.004913 ± 0.000023 [1]
Heliocentric radial velocity1,473 ± 7 km/s[1]
Distance82 ± 6.7 Mly (25.15 ± 2.1 Mpc)[1]
Group or clusterNGC 5121 Group
Apparent magnitude (V)10.7[2]
Characteristics
TypeSA(rs)a [1]
Size~55,000 ly (17 kpc) (estimated)[1]
Apparent size (V)1.9 × 1.5 [1]
Other designations
ESO 382- G 057, AM 1321-372, IRAS 13219-3725, MCG -06-29-035, PGC 46896[1]

NGC 5121 is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Centaurus. The galaxy lies about 80 million light years away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that NGC 5121 is approximately 55,000 light years across.[1] It was discovered by John Herschel on June 26, 1834.[3]

The galaxy has a bright nucleus,[4] which is inactive.[5] The nuclear region appears elongated, maybe due to the presence of a bar.[6] The isophotes of the bulge appear circular towards the centre but become elliptical at its outer regions. The galaxy is unbarred. The bulge is surrounded by a low surface brightness disk.[4] The disk features a spiral pattern with multiple tightly wound spiral arms. The spiral pattern is subtle and thus the galaxy had been classified in the past as a lenticular galaxy.[7]

NGC 5121 is the foremost galaxy of the NGC 5121 Group, also known as LGG 349. Other members of the group include ESO 382- 45, ESO 324- 23, ESO 382- 31, NGC 5121A, and ESO 324- 26.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Results for object NGC 5121". NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. NASA and Caltech. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  2. ^ "Revised NGC Data for NGC 5121". spider.seds.org. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  3. ^ Seligman, Courtney. "NGC 5121 (= PGC 46896)". Celestial Atlas. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  4. ^ a b Eskridge, Paul B.; Frogel, Jay A.; Pogge, Richard W.; Quillen, Alice C.; Berlind, Andreas A.; Davies, Roger L.; DePoy, D. L.; Gilbert, Karoline M.; Houdashelt, Mark L.; Kuchinski, Leslie E.; Ramirez, Solange V.; Sellgren, K.; Stutz, Amelia; Terndrup, Donald M.; Tiede, Glenn P. (November 2002). "Near-Infrared and Optical Morphology of Spiral Galaxies". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 143 (1): 73–111. arXiv:astro-ph/0206320. Bibcode:2002ApJS..143...73E. doi:10.1086/342340.
  5. ^ Ashok, Aishwarya; Seth, Anil; Erwin, Peter; Debattista, Victor P.; de Lorenzo-Cáceres, Adriana; Gadotti, Dmitri A.; Méndez-Abreu, Jairo; Beckman, John E.; Bender, Ralf; Drory, Niv; Fisher, Deanne; Hopp, Ulrich; Kluge, Matthias; Kolcu, Tutku; Maciejewski, Witold; Mehrgan, Kianusch; Parikh, Taniya; Saglia, Roberto; Seidel, Marja; Thomas, Jens (1 November 2023). "Composite Bulges. III. A Study of Nuclear Star Clusters in Nearby Spiral Galaxies". The Astrophysical Journal. 958 (1): 100. arXiv:2308.03913. Bibcode:2023ApJ...958..100A. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ace341.
  6. ^ Carollo, C. M.; Stiavelli, M.; Mack, J. (July 1998). "Spiral Galaxies with WFPC2. II. The Nuclear Properties of 40 Objects". The Astronomical Journal. 116 (1): 68–84. arXiv:astro-ph/9804007. Bibcode:1998AJ....116...68C. doi:10.1086/300407.
  7. ^ Sandage, A., Bedke, J. (1994), The Carnegie Atlas of Galaxies. Volume I, Carnegie Institution of Washington
  8. ^ Garcia, A. M. (1 July 1993). "General study of group membership. II. Determination of nearby groups". Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series. 100: 47–90. Bibcode:1993A&AS..100...47G. ISSN 0365-0138.
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