NGC 5963

NGC 5963
NGC 5963 (Sloan Digital Sky Survey)
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationDraco[1]
Right ascension15h 33m 27.73s[2]
Declination+56° 33′ 33.9″[2]
Redshift0.00215±0.00009[3]
Heliocentric radial velocity654 km/s[4]
Distance42.4 ± 9.8 Mly (13.0 ± 3.0 Mpc)[5][6]
Apparent magnitude (V)13.1[1]
Characteristics
TypeS/Sc[7][5] or S pec[8]
Size15 kpc[5]
Apparent size (V)4.0′ × 3.0′
Other designations
NGC 5963, UGC 9906, PGC 55419[9]

NGC 5963 is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Draco.[1] It was discovered on May 5, 1788 by German-British astronomer William Herschel.[10] NGC 5963 has an apparent visual magnitude of 13.1[1] and is located at a distance of 42 million light-years (13.0 Mpc) from the Milky Way galaxy.[5][6] It has an angular separation of just 9′ from NGC 5965, but the two galaxies are not physically related.[1] Although it is relatively isolated,[11] NGC 5963 is sometimes classified as a member of the NGC 5866 Group of galaxies.[6]

The morphological classification of NGC 5963 is Sc, indicating a spiral galaxy with somewhat loosely wound spiral arms.[5] It is characterized by an unusually low surface brightness and has just a hint of a bulge component.[11][1] There is a high surface brightness nuclear region with an oval shape spanning ~40″, which forms a spiral sub-system. Surrounding this is a patchy, loosely wound spiral forming a faint disk.[11] The rotation curve of NGC 5963 matches that of similar galaxies with normal surface brightness, suggesting this galaxy has a more concentrated halo.[5]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference König_Binnewies_2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Gaia_DR2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Abazajian_et_al_2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tully_et_al_2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference bosmaetal1988 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference sanchez2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference ugc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference NED was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference SIMBAD was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference cseligman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Romanishin_et_al_1982 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).