NGC 5253

Image gallery

Remarks

This galaxy is a member of the fairly nearby Centaurus group of galaxies, which includes NGC 4945, 5102, 5128, 5236 and NGC 5253.

Historical observations

William Herschel (c.1784)

Synonyms: H II-638

Discovered in 1787 by William Herschel with an 18.7-inch f/13 speculum telescope. He called it "pB, S, lE sp-nf."

Dunlop, James (1827)

James Dunlop observed it from Paramatta, New South Wales, and included it as No. 623 in his catalogue of 1827. Using a 9-inch f/12 telescope, he observed it twice and described it as "a very small and very bright nebula, very much resembling a small star, surrounded by a very strong burr; this is a singular body."

John Herschel

Sir John Herschel observed it at the Cape of Good Hope with an 18-inch f/13 speculum telescope. He recorded it as "very bright, much elongated, pretty suddenly brighter in the middle, 2.5' long, 1' broad."

Published comments

Supernovae

Two supernovae erupted in this galaxy; 1895 (7.5p, 7.2v), 1972 (7.8p)

Photo index

Photo Index by Jim Lucyk: Sky&Tel. 9/72 p158, Deep Sky #10 Sp85 p22, Burnhams V1 p514, 570.

Helwan Obs. Bulletin No 21 (1920)

vB oval N with little dark patches at either end of the major axis; E 15deg, N surr. by F spindle 3'x0.5', E 40deg. No change in surr. stars seen. Date of observations 915 Feb 20, 1915 June 6, and 1920 April 22. See PASP 8, p 221.

Page, Thornton

Thornton Page ("Galaxies and the Universe", Chapter 13 - Binary Galaxies) notes that NGC 5253 is also a member of the NGC 5128 Group.

Sulentic & Tifft (1973)

The RNGC (Sulentic and Tifft 1973) notes that this is a 11.0 mag galaxy. Their coded description reads EL,SLDIF,BM.

de Vaucouleurs, G. (1975)

de Vaucouleurs, G. (1975) Nearby groups of galaxies. In: Kuiper, G. (ed) Stars and Stellar Systems. Volume 9: Galaxies and the Universe. Chapter 14, p557.

5. The nearer groups within 10 megaparsecs

G4. NGC 5128 Group

Brightest members: 5236,5128,4945,5102,5068,5253.

Several large southern galaxies having low velocities may form a loose group or chain centred on NGC 5128, 4945, 5102, 5236 and NGC 5253 and possibly NGC 5068. Two (NGC 5102 and perhaps NGC 5128=CenA) are lenticulars, three are late-type spirals Sc-Scd and one (NGC 5253) is peculiar, possibly an I0 irregular (the BGC classificaion Imp is incorrect). The overall length of the chain is 30° = 2.1Mpc or 20° = 1.4 Mpc (excluding NGC 5068 which has the highest velocity). ... Even if this chain does not form a physical (bound) group, it is useful to obtain some estimate of the distance of NGC 5128.

Schmidt, K.-H. et al. (1993)

Schmidt K.-H., Priebe A. & Boller T. (1993) Nearby galaxies. Revised machine-readable version of the catalogue. Astron. Nachr., 314, 371. [1993AN....314..371S]

Other names: "E445-04,UA369". Inclination: (face-on, in degrees) 67 Total photoelectric blue mag 10.87 Total colour index .43 Logarithm of the angular diameter D25 (arcminutes) 1.70 Blue photographic magnitude 11.06 This galaxy is included in a sample of galaxies with velocity less than 500km/s with respect to the centroid of the Local Group. [Nearby Galaxies. Schmidt K.-H., Priebe A., Boller T. (Astron. Nachr. 314, 371 (1993))]

Monreal-Ibero, A. et al. (2010)

A study of the interplay between ionized gas and star clusters in the central region of NGC 5253 with 2D spectroscopy. Astron.Astroph., 517, A27

"NGC 5253, an irregular galaxy located in the Centaurus A / M83 galaxy complex, is a local example of an HII galaxy. This galaxy is suffering a burst of star formation which is believed to have been triggered by an encounter with M83. This is supported by the existence of the HI plume extending along the optical minor axis which is best explained as tidal debris.

"The basic characeristics of this galaxy are compiled in Table 1 [z=0.001358, distance=3.8 Mpc]. Its stellar content has been widely studied and more than 300 stellar clusters have been detected … those in its central region present typical masses of about 2-120 x 10E3 M_solar and are very young, with ages of about 1-12 Myr. … the nucleus of the galaxy is made out of two very massive (about 1-2 x 10E6 M_solar) super stellar clusters (SSCc), with ages of about 3.5 Myr, separated by about 0.4 arcsec."

Cresci, G. et al (2010)

Integral-field near-infrared spectroscopy of two blue dwarf galaxies: NGC 5253 and He 2-10. Astron.Astrophy., 520, A82.

NGC 5253 is an irregular dwarf galaxy in the Centaurus Group ... It is indeed one of the closest starbust galaxies, with a heliocentric distance of only 3.3 Mpc ... and one of the youngest starburst galaxies known.

Modern observations

Burnham's Celestial Handbook

Burnham calls this a 10.8 mag peculiar elliptical galaxy in Centaurus, 4' x 1.5', "bright, pretty large, elongated and pretty suddenly brighter in the middle. Supernovae in 1895 and 1972." He notes that "to the eye and photographic plate is appears as a fairly regular oval about 4' in length, tilted towards PA 45 and with a brighter central mass. On short exposures, however, the central hub appears roughly rectangular with numerous irregular indentations and extensions; this area contains many condensations which appear to be nebulous aggregates of stars and giant emission regions. Some smaller diffuse spots have been identified as probable globular clusters."

Sanford (1989) Observing the Constellations

Sanford notes that the galaxy has produced two bright supernovae, one in 1895 and a second in 1972, both of 7th mag.

Walter Scott Houston

Houston notes that a 6-inch will show it as an evenly illuminated oval some 4' by 2'.

Steve Coe

Steve Coe, using a 17.5" f/4.5, notes: "Pretty bright, pretty large, elongated, and brighter in the middle at 135X."

Tom Lorenzin

Tom Lorenzin, in the e-version of "1000+ The Amateur Astronomers' Field Guide to Deep Sky Observing", notes: "10.8M; 4' x 1.5' extent; bright oblong with brighter center with very dim stellar nucleus; axis oriented NE-SW; 13M star 1' to NNW; 12M star 3' to W; 11M star 4' to NNW; !good supernova prospect!."

Contemporary observations

Auke Slotegraaf

1994 February 10

1994-02-10, Die Boord, 11x80 tripod-mounted. Failed to find this galaxy.

Magda Streicher

1997 April

Location: Camp Site: ( South 23 16 East 29 26 )

Sky conditions: clear fair about 6 magnitude.

Instrument: 8 inch Meade ( super wide-angle 18 mm. Eyepiece ).

Date: April 1997.

Relatively large galaxy with a fairly bright core in gaseous surroundings. Not a busy starfield although a few stars form a sort of an umbrella just to the east of the galaxy.

(no date)

12-inch f/10 SCT (EP: 2-inch 32mm SW 95x 42' fov; 2-inch 14mm UW 218x 23' fov)

Relative small galaxy, elongated in a northeast to southwest direction. Fairly bright core and a soft thin outer edge. Not a busy star-field although a few stars form a sort of an umbrella just to the northwest of the galaxy. The relationship in diameter is more or less 4 x 2. A few 11th magnitude stars in the northern field of view, three in a half moon shape.

Richard Ford

2012 August, 18th

Location:Perdeberg.

Sky Conditions:The fainter parts of the Milky Way are barely visible.Haziness only visible on the horizon.Atmosphere stable with little interference.

Instrument:12-inch Dobsonian.

This galaxy has a small elongated shape which is just visible at 75*.Around the outskirts of this galaxy some areas of uneven brightness are observed and there are also plenty of areas of haziness.The central core however is somewhat compact.The central nucleus of this galaxy grows brighter compared to the far outskirts of this galaxy.P.A. South-West/North-East.Chart:No.77,NSOG Vol.2.