NGC 5962 is a spiral galaxy in the

equatorial Equatorial may refer to something related to: *Earth's equator **the tropics, the Earth's equatorial region **tropical climate *the Celestial equator ** equatorial orbit **equatorial coordinate system ** equatorial mount, of telescopes * equatorial ...

constellation of

Serpens Caput Serpens ( grc, , , the Serpent) is a constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. One of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, it remains one of the 88 modern constellations designated by the International ...

. It was discovered by the Anglo-German astronomer

William Herschel Frederick William Herschel (; german: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline ...

on March 21, 1784. The NGC 5962 galaxy is located at a distance of 120 million light years and is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of . It is the brightest member of the eponymously-named NGC 5962 group, which overlaps with the nearby NGC 5970 group; the two groups may be

gravitationally bound The gravitational binding energy of a system is the minimum energy which must be added to it in order for the system to cease being in a gravitationally bound state. A gravitationally bound system has a lower (''i.e.'', more negative) gravitati ...

The morphological (shape) class of NGC 5962 in the

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

is SAB(rs,nrl)c. This notation indicates the galaxy has a bar structure around the nucleus (SAB), an inner pseudo-ring likely associated with the outer Lindblad resonance (rs), a ring-lens structure at the nucleus (nrl), and loosely-wound

spiral arm Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae''optical band, this galaxy is classed as Hubble type SA(r)c, displaying an inner ring with no visible bar. The

galactic plane The galactic plane is the plane on which the majority of a disk-shaped galaxy's mass lies. The directions perpendicular to the galactic plane point to the galactic poles. In actual usage, the terms ''galactic plane'' and ''galactic poles'' usual ...

is inclined at an angle of to the line of sight from the Earth, giving it an oval profile with the major axis aligned along a

position angle In astronomy, position angle (usually abbreviated PA) is the convention for measuring angles on the sky. The International Astronomical Union defines it as the angle measured relative to the north celestial pole (NCP), turning positive into the ...

of . Along with a populated nucleus, it has a relatively large

core Core or cores may refer to: Science and technology * Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages * Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding * Core (optical fiber), the signal-carrying portion of an optical fiber * Core, the centra ...

, but a small central bulge, in which the spiral arms begin to unfurl. There is some evidence for a low level of nuclear activity, and it has been classed as a nuclear

H II region An H II region or HII region is a region of interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized. It is typically in a molecular cloud of partially ionized gas in which star formation has recently taken place, with a size ranging from one to hundreds ...

galaxy. Based on its emission of far ultraviolet radiation, the pseudo-ring structure is actively undergoing star formation. The galaxy is forming stars at the rate of ·yr⁻¹. There are two confirmed

satellite galaxies A satellite galaxy is a smaller companion galaxy that travels on bound orbits within the gravitational potential of a more massive and luminous host galaxy (also known as the primary galaxy). Satellite galaxies and their constituents are bound ...

; a third candidate proved to be too distant based on its redshift value. Two supernovae have been detected in this galaxy: SN 2016afa ( type II, mag. 17.1) was discovered February 12, 2016, and SN 2017ivu ( type IIP, mag. 15.4)Transient Name Server entry for SN 2017ivu.
Retrieved 24 March 2023. was spotted December 11, 2017.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:NGC 5962 Barred spiral galaxies Serpens 5962 55588 09926