NGC 5253

NGC 5253 is an irregular galaxy in the constellation Centaurus. It was discovered by William Herschel on 15 March 1787.

Properties

NGC 5253 is located within the M83 Subgroup of the Centaurus A/M83 Group, a relatively nearby galaxy group that includes the radio galaxy Centaurus A and the spiral galaxy M83. NGC 5253 is considered a dwarf starburst galaxy and also a blue compact galaxy.

Supernovae

Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 5253:

SN 1895B was discovered by Williamina Fleming on 7 July 1895.
SN 1972E, the second-brightest recent supernova visible from Earth, was discovered by Charles Kowal on 13 May 1972. With a peak apparent magnitude of 8.5, the only brighter supernova observed in the 20th century was SN 1987A.
Contents

NGC 5253 contains a giant dust cloud hiding a cluster of more than one million stars, among them up to 7,000 O-type stars. The cluster is 3 million years old and has a total luminosity of more than one billion suns. It is the site of efficient star formation, with a rate at least 10 times higher than comparable regions in the Milky Way.

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