NGC 6221
Galaxy in the constellation Ara
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NGC 6221 (also known as PGC 59175) is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ara. In de Vaucouleurs' galaxy morphological classification scheme, it is classified as SB(s)bc[1] and was discovered by British astronomer John Herschel on 3 May 1835.[2] NGC 6221 is located at about 69 million light years from Earth.[1][3]
| NGC 6221 | |
|---|---|
NGC 6221 as seen through the Hubble Space Telescope | |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Ara |
| Right ascension | 16h 52m 46.1s[1] |
| Declination | −59° 13′ 07″[1] |
| Redshift | 0.004999±0.000017[1] |
| Heliocentric radial velocity | 1499±5 km/s[1] |
| Galactocentric velocity | 1390±7 km/s[1] |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 9.28[1] |
| Absolute magnitude (V) | −20.97[1] |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | SB(s)bc[1] |
| Size | 70,000 light years |
| Apparent size (V) | 3.5′ × 2.5′[1] |
| Other designations | |
| ESO 138-3, AM 1648-590, IRAS16484-5908 and PGC 59175 | |
References: NASA/IPAC extragalactic datatbase, http://spider.seds.org/ | |
Galaxy group information
NGC 6221 is part of galaxy group NGC 6221/15, which includes spiral galaxy NGC 6215 and three dwarf galaxies. Interactions between NGC 6221 and NGC 6215 form a double-stranded bridge of neutral hydrogen gas over a projected distance of 100 kpc; Dwarf 3 of the three dwarf galaxies may have formed from the bridging gas.[4]
Supernovae
Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 6221:
- SN 1990W (type Ib/Ic, mag. 15) was discovered by Robert Evans on 16 August 1990.[5][6][7]
- SN 2024pxg (type II, mag. 15.1) was discovered by the Distance Less Than 40 Mpc Survey (DLT40) on 23 July 2024.[8]
