NGC 5364 is a

grand design spiral galaxy A grand design spiral galaxy is a spiral galaxy with prominent and well-defined continuous spiral arms, as opposed to multi-arm, patchy and flocculent spirals which have subtler structural features. The spiral arms of a grand design galaxy exten ...

located 54.5 million

light year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distance, astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by t ...

s away in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

Virgo Virgo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Virgo (film), a 1970 Egyptian film * Virgo (character), several Marvel Comics characters * Virgo Asmita, a character in the manga ''Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas'' * ''Virgo'' (album), by Virgo Four, ...

. It is inclined to the

line of sight The line of sight, also known as visual axis or sightline (also sight line), is an imaginary line between a viewer/ observer/ spectator's eye(s) and a subject of interest, or their relative direction. The subject may be any definable object taken ...

from the Earth at an angle of 47° 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 Celestial pole, north celestial pole (NCP), turning pos ...

of 25°. It is a member of the NGC 5364 Group of galaxies (also known as LGG 362), itself one of the

Virgo III Groups The Virgo III Groups, Virgo III Cloud, or the Virgo-Libra Cloud is a galaxy filament consisting of at least 13 galaxy groups. It is located approximately 87 Mly (27 Mpc) from the Solar System. The Virgo III Cloud, like the Leo Cloud, is prolate ...

strung out to the east of the

Virgo Supercluster The Local Supercluster (LSC or LS), or Virgo Supercluster is a formerly defined supercluster containing the Virgo Cluster and Local Group, which itself contains the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, as well as others. At least 100 galaxy group ...

of galaxies. The galaxies NGC 5364 and NGC 5360 are also listed together as Holm 557 in Erik Holmberg's ''A Study of Double and Multiple Galaxies Together with Inquiries into some General Metagalactic Problems'', published in 1937.

Structure

The morphological classification of NGC 5364 in the De Vaucouleurs system is SA(rs)bc pec, which indicates it has an incomplete ring structure (rs) in the inner part of the galaxy with moderate to loosely wound arms (bc) and has a peculiar aspect (pec). In particular, the appearance of the spiral arms is amorphous and asymmetrical compared to other galaxies with a similar classification. A companion galaxy, NGC 5363, is located to the north of NGC 5364 and their gravitational interaction may be influencing the peculiar morphology of the latter. The mid-infrared emission in the nucleus appears weak compared to the spiral arms, suggesting a low rate of star formation in the core region. The inner ring of this galaxy spans a diameter of and is located slightly off center with the northern side showing a stronger emission in the

hydrogen alpha Hydrogen-alpha, typically shortened to H-alpha or Hα, is a deep-red visible spectral line of the hydrogen atom with a wavelength of 656.28 nm in air and 656.46 nm in vacuum. It is the first spectral line in the Balmer series and is emit ...

band compared to the southern half. Multiple

H II region An H II 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 of light year ...

s lie along the spiral arms, tracing out their extent. Each of the two main arms wrap all the way around the galaxy, although they display patchiness along much of their length.

NGC designation

This object was discovered by

William Herschel Frederick William Herschel ( ; ; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel. Born in the Electorate of Hanover ...

on February 2, 1786, and later listed as NGC 5364. It was subsequently rediscovered by

John Herschel Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (; 7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor and experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical work. ...

on April 7, 1828, and later listed as NGC 5317.

Image gallery

File:A Grand Design of Imperfections (iotw2347a).jpg, NGC 5364 (left) and NGC 5363 (right), imaged by the

Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) is an Astronomy, astronomical observatory located on the summit of Mt. Cerro Tololo in the Coquimbo Region of northern Chile, with additional facilities located on Mt. Cerro Pachón about to th ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:NGC 5364 Unbarred spiral galaxies Virgo (constellation) 5364 049555 08853 +01-36-003 13536+0515 17860202 Discoveries by William Herschel