NGC 5668 is a nearly face-on spiral galaxy, visual magnitude about 11.5,[4] located about 81[2] million light years away in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered in 1786 by William Herschel.[4] It is a member of the NGC 5638 Group of galaxies, itself one of the Virgo III Groups strung out to the east of the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies.[5]
NGC 5668 | |
---|---|
Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
Constellation | Virgo |
Right ascension | 14h 33m 24.331s[1] |
Declination | +04° 27′ 01.75″[1] |
Heliocentric radial velocity | 1,582 ± 5[2] km/s |
Distance | 80.9 ± 5.5 million light years (24.8 ± 1.7 Mpc)[2] |
Characteristics | |
Type | SA(s)d[2] |
Mass | 5.7×1010[2] M☉ |
Other designations | |
UGC 9363[3] |
As seen from the Earth, it is inclined by an angle of 18° to the line of sight along a position angle of 145°. The morphological classification in the De Vaucouleurs system is SA(s)d,[2] indicating a pure spiral structure with loosely wound arms.[6] However, optical images of the galaxy indicate the presence of a weak bar structure spanning an angle of 12″ across the nucleus. There is a dwarf galaxy located around 650×10 3 ly (200 kpc) to the southeast of NGC 5668, and the two may be gravitationally interacting.[2]
Three supernovae have been observed in this galaxy: SN 1952G, SN 1954B, and SN 2004G.[7] The last, a type II supernova,[8] was initially imaged on January 19, 2004, at 43" to the west and 12".5 south of the galaxy core.[7] High velocity clouds of neutral hydrogen have been observed in NGC 5668, which may have their origin in supernova explosions and strong stellar winds.[9]