NGC 5474
Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NGC 5474 is a peculiar dwarf galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. It is one of several companion galaxies of the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), a grand-design spiral galaxy.[4][5] Among the Pinwheel Galaxy's companions, this galaxy is the closest to the Pinwheel Galaxy itself.[4] The gravitational interaction between NGC 5474 and the Pinwheel Galaxy has strongly distorted the former. As a result, the disk is offset relative to the nucleus.[4][6] The star formation in this galaxy (as traced by hydrogen spectral line emission) is also offset from the nucleus.[6] NGC 5474 shows some signs of a spiral structure. As a result, this galaxy is often classified as a dwarf spiral galaxy, a relatively rare group of dwarf galaxies.
| NGC 5474 | |
|---|---|
Hubble image of NGC 5474.[1] | |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Ursa Major[2] |
| Right ascension | 14h 05m 01.6s[3] |
| Declination | +53° 39′ 44″[3] |
| Redshift | 273 ± 9 km/s[3] |
| Distance | 21.2 ± 2.2 Mly (6.5 ± 0.7 Mpc)[3] |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 11.3[3] |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | SA(s)cd pec[3] |
| Size | 27,500 ly (8.43 kpc) (estimated)[3] |
| Apparent size (V) | 4.8′ × 4.3′[3] |
| Other designations | |
| UGC 9013,[3] PGC 50216[3] | |
