NGC 5084 — S0 in Virgo
S0 in Virgo, 9.9 arcminutes across, its light 82 million years old. Measured by HyperLEDA, photographed by Pan-STARRS1. Recorded once.
About NGC 5084
What you are looking at
NGC 5084 is a lenticular galaxy: a disc galaxy that has largely used up the gas it needs to form new stars, so its disc is smooth and has no spiral arms. Its disc is turned almost exactly side-on to us: the galaxy appears as a narrow blade of light, and its dust as a dark seam running along it. From edge to edge its visible disc spans about 238,000 light-years, about 2.4 times the width of the Milky Way.
What astronomers have recorded
SIMBAD, the reference database astronomers use, classes it as a Seyfert galaxy: its nucleus is lit by gas falling into its central black hole, though dust hides part of that glow from us. It is cited in 195 scientific papers indexed by SIMBAD, and recorded there under 24 different catalogue designations.
When this light set out
Its light has been travelling for about 82 million years. When it left, dinosaurs were at their peak. The galaxy is moving away from us at about 1,718 km/s (3.8 million mph), carried by the expansion of the universe.
Finding it in the sky
In the sky, NGC 5084 sits within the constellation Virgo. It is best placed on spring evenings: around 9:30 pm in May it stands about 28° high in the south, seen from the middle of the United States.
Its neighbours
At almost the same distance from us, and so its neighbours in space as well as on the sky: NGC 5087 (1.2° away on the sky, at least 1,750,000 light-years from it); NGC 5134 (1.4° away on the sky, at least 1,950,000 light-years from it); NGC 5042 (2.4° away on the sky, at least 3,470,000 light-years from it); NGC 5085 (2.6° away on the sky, at least 3,750,000 light-years from it).
By apparent size it is number 16 of the 12,657 galaxies on the Galaxy Origins register.
Measurements
| Catalogue | PGC 46525 |
|---|---|
| Morphological type | S0 |
| Angular diameter | 9.93′ |
| Right ascension | 13h20m16.9s |
| Declination | -21°49′38.3″ |
| Constellation | Virgo |
| Inclination | 90.0° |
| Light travel time | 82 million years |
| Bar | not recorded |
Check every figure above in the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database
What is sold
A print of this galaxy and the record of the calculation, once. When it sells it leaves the register and is not offered again. We assign no names and no ownership — nobody can sell you those.
At 9.9 arcminutes this is a Exceptional galaxy, which is the tier where a real photograph shows clear structure and dust lanes. The tier comes from the measured diameter, not from a price list.
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