NGC 5854 — S0-a in Virgo
S0-a in Virgo, 3.0 arcminutes across, its light 83 million years old. Measured by HyperLEDA, photographed by Pan-STARRS1. Recorded once.
About NGC 5854
What you are looking at
NGC 5854 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 73,000 light-years, about 74% of the Milky Way’s width.
What astronomers have recorded
SIMBAD, the reference database astronomers use, classes it as a member of a group of galaxies. One supernova has been recorded in it: SN 1980P. It is cited in 156 scientific papers indexed by SIMBAD, and recorded there under 16 different catalogue designations.
When this light set out
Its light has been travelling for about 83 million years. When it left, dinosaurs were at their peak. The galaxy is moving away from us at about 1,730 km/s (3.9 million mph), carried by the expansion of the universe.
Finding it in the sky
In the sky, NGC 5854 sits within the constellation Virgo. It is best placed on summer evenings: around 9:30 pm in June it stands about 53° 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 5864 (0.7° away on the sky, at least 950,000 light-years from it); UGC 9746 (0.9° away on the sky, at least 1,280,000 light-years from it); UGC 9760 (1.4° away on the sky, at least 1,980,000 light-years from it); UGC 9751 (1.4° away on the sky, at least 2,000,000 light-years from it), and 2 more.
By apparent size it is number 513 of the 12,657 galaxies on the Galaxy Origins register.
Measurements
| Catalogue | PGC 54013 |
|---|---|
| Morphological type | S0-a |
| Angular diameter | 3.02′ |
| Right ascension | 15h07m47.7s |
| Declination | +02°34′07.0″ |
| Constellation | Virgo |
| Inclination | 90.0° |
| Light travel time | 83 million years |
| Bar | yes, from the catalogue |
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 3.0 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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