NGC 6221 (also known as ''
PGC 59175'') is a
barred spiral galaxy
A barred spiral galaxy is a spiral galaxy with a central bar-shaped structure composed of stars. Bars are found in about two thirds of all spiral galaxies in the local universe, and generally affect both the motions of stars and interstellar gas ...
located in the constellation
Ara
Ara may refer to:
Biology
* ''Ara'' (bird), a genus of parrots
* Ara (fish) (''Niphon spinosus''), a species of fish
* L-arabinose operon, also known as ara
Places
* Ara (mountain), a mountain in Armenia
* Ara, Armenia, a village in Armenia
...
. In de Vaucouleurs'
galaxy morphological classification scheme, it is classified as SB(s)bc
and was discovered by British astronomer
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 3 May 1835.
NGC 6221 is located at about 69 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 from Earth.
Galaxy group information
NGC 6221 is part of
galaxy group
A galaxy group or group of galaxies (GrG) is an aggregation of galaxies comprising about 50 or fewer gravitationally bound members, each at least as luminous as the Milky Way (about 1010 times the luminosity of the Sun); collections of galaxi ...
NGC 6221/15, which includes
spiral galaxy
Spiral galaxies form a galaxy morphological classification, class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae'' NGC 6215
NGC 6215 (also known as ''PGC 59112'') is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ara. It is designated as SA(s)c in the galaxy morphological classification scheme. It was discovered by astronomer John Herschel on 9 July 1836.
Galaxy group ...
and three
dwarf galaxies
A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of about 1000 up to several billion stars, as compared to the Milky Way's 200–400 billion stars. The Large Magellanic Cloud, which closely orbits the Milky Way and contains over 30 billion stars, is so ...
. Interactions between NGC 6221 and NGC 6215 form a of
neutral hydrogen gas over a projected distance of 100
kpc; Dwarf 3 of the three dwarf galaxies may have formed from the bridging gas.
Supernovae
Two
supernova
A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...
e have been observed in NGC 6221:
* SN 1990W (
type Ib/Ic, mag. 15) was discovered by
Robert Evans
Robert Evans (born Robert J. Shapera; June 29, 1930 – October 26, 2019) was an American film producer who worked on ''Rosemary's Baby (film), Rosemary's Baby'' (1968), ''Love Story (1970 film), Love Story'' (1970), ''The Godfather'' (1972), ...
on 16 August 1990.
* SN 2024pxg (
type II, mag. 15.1) was discovered by the ''Distance Less Than 40 Mpc Survey'' (DLT40) on 23 July 2024.
See also
*
List of NGC objects (6001–7000)
This is a list of NGC objects 6001–7000 from the New General Catalogue (NGC). The astronomical catalogue is composed mainly of star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. Other objects in the catalogue can be found in the other subpages of the list of ...
*
New General Catalogue
The ''New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars'' (abbreviated NGC) is an astronomical catalogue of deep-sky objects compiled by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888. The NGC contains 7,840 objects, including galaxy, galaxies, star cluste ...
References
External links
*
Barred spiral galaxies
Ara (constellation)
6221
59175
{{Spiral-galaxy-stub