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]

NGC 5963
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]

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]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f König, Michael; Binnewies, Stefan (2017). The Cambridge Photographic Atlas of Galaxies. Cambridge University Press. p. 60. ISBN 9781107189485.
  2. ^ a b Brown, A. G. A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (August 2018). "Gaia Data Release 2: Summary of the contents and survey properties". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 616. A1. arXiv:1804.09365. Bibcode:2018A&A...616A...1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201833051. Gaia DR2 record for this source at VizieR.
  3. ^ Abazajian, Kevork N.; et al. (2009). "The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 182 (2): 543–558. arXiv:0812.0649. Bibcode:2009ApJS..182..543A. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/182/2/543. S2CID 14376651.
  4. ^ Tully, R. Brent; et al. (2016). "Cosmicflows-3". The Astronomical Journal. 152 (2): 50. arXiv:1605.01765. Bibcode:2016AJ....152...50T. doi:10.3847/0004-6256/152/2/50. S2CID 250737862.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bosma, A.; et al. (June 1988). "A 21-cm line study of NGC 5963, an SC galaxy with a low-surface brightness disk". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 198 (1–2): 100–108. Bibcode:1988A&A...198..100B.
  6. ^ a b c Sanchez-Salcedo, F. J. (September 2005). "The dark halo of NGC 5963 as a constraint on dark matter self-interaction at the low-velocity regime". The Astrophysical Journal. 631 (1): 244–251. arXiv:astro-ph/0506345. Bibcode:2005ApJ...631..244S. doi:10.1086/432593.
  7. ^ "Uppsala General Catalog of Galaxies 9906". NASA HEASARC. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  8. ^ "NED results for NGC 5963". NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. University of California. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  9. ^ "NGC 5963", SIMBAD, Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg, retrieved 2024-05-19.
  10. ^ Seligman, Courtney. "NGC Objects: NGC 5950 - 5999". Celestial Atlas. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
  11. ^ a b c Romanishin, W.; et al. (July 1982). "Observations of the mass and light distribution of NGC 5963, an unusual low surface brightness spiral". Astrophysical Journal. 258: 77–82. Bibcode:1982ApJ...258...77R. doi:10.1086/160054.
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