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EntityQ291059· pop 32· linked from 491 articles

galaxy

Key facts

Constellation
Hydra
Right ascension
09 59 29.5
Declination
−22 ° 49 ′ 35 ″
Redshift
0.007976 ± 0.000010
Heliocentric radial velocity
2,391 ± 3 km / s
Distance
83 Mly (25.3 Mpc )
Type
(R_1)SAB(r)0/a
Apparent size v
2.1 ′ × 1.6 ′
Notable features
Seyfert galaxy

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
ring galaxy
Constellation
Hydra
Distance from Earth
34.50
Image
NGC 3081-HST-R814-G555-B439.png
Show 11 more facts
catalog code
Gaia DR2 5660737587274519040
Commons category
NGC 3081
discoverer or inventor
William Herschel
time of discovery or invention
1786-12-21
apparent magnitude
8.910
right ascension
149.87309835235190
declination
-22.82631889481360
redshift
0.0072
radial velocity
2413
epoch
J2000.0
galaxy morphological type
S0:r

via Wikidata · CC0

~5 min read

Encyclopedic overview

NGC 3081 is a barred lenticular ring galaxy in the constellation of Hydra. NGC 3081 is located about 85 million light-years away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that NGC 3081 is approximately 60,000 light-years across. It is a type II Seyfert galaxy, characterised by its bright nucleus. It was discovered by William Herschel on 21 December 1786.

NGC 3081 is seen nearly face-on. The galaxy's barred spiral centre is surrounded by a bright loop known as a resonance ring. This ring is full of bright clusters and bursts of new star formation, and frames the supermassive black hole thought to be lurking within NGC 3081—which glows brightly as it gobbles up infalling material.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q291059” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.