Right ascension 14 05 01.6 Redshift 273 ± 9 km/s Apparent size (V) 4′.8 × 4′.3 Constellation Ursa Major | Declination +53° 39′ 44″ Type SA(s)cd pec Magnitude 11.3 Apparent magnitude (V) 11.3 | |
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Distance 21.2 ± 2.2 Mly (6.5 ± 0.7 Mpc) Similar NGC 5477, NGC 5422, NGC 5204, NGC 5585, NGC 5238 | ||
NGC 5474 is a peculiar dwarf galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. It is one of several companion galaxies of the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), a grand-design spiral galaxy. Among the Pinwheel Galaxy's companions, this galaxy is the closest to the Pinwheel Galaxy itself. The gravitational interaction between NGC 5474 and the Pinwheel Galaxy has strongly distorted the former. As a result, the disk is offset relative to the nucleus. The star formation in this galaxy (as traced by hydrogen spectral line emission) is also offset from the nucleus. NGC 5474 shows some signs of a spiral structure. As a result, this galaxy is often classified as a dwarf spiral galaxy, a relatively rare group of dwarf galaxies.
References
NGC 5474 Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA