NGC 3021 is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Leo Minor. It is about 93 million light-years away from Earth,[4] and is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 1,537±4 km/s.[4] This galaxy was discovered December 7, 1785 by Anglo-German astronomer William Herschel.[7] The morphological classification of NGC 3021 is SA(rs)bc,[5] which indicates a spiral galaxy with no central bar (SA), an incomplete inner ring structure (rs), and moderate to loosely wound spiral arms (bc).

NGC 3021
NGC 3021 (right of center) as seen by the HST
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationLeo Minor[1]
Right ascension09h 50m 57.146s[2]
Declination33° 33′ 12.94″[2]
Redshift0.00514±0.000013[3]
Heliocentric radial velocity1,537±4 km/s[4]
Galactocentric velocity1,502±4 km/s[4]
Distance92.8 Mly (28.44 Mpc)[4]
Apparent magnitude (V)10.88[3]
Apparent magnitude (B)12.54[4]
Absolute magnitude (V)−21.25[3]
Characteristics
TypeSA(rs)bc,[5] 4.0[4]
Apparent size (V)1.6 × 0.9′[3]
Notable featuresStarburst galaxy[5]
Other designations
2MASX J09505711+3333124, NGC 3021, UGC 5280, PGC 28357[6]

The galaxy contains many Cepheid variable stars. These stars have been used to measure the distances of galaxies. This galaxy was also used to help refine the measurement of the Hubble constant.[8]

Spiral galaxy NGC 3021.

Supernova

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On November 1, 1995, S. Pesci and P. Mazza in Milan, Italy reported the discovery of a supernova in the NGC 3021 galaxy. G. M. Hurst in England confirmed the finding, estimating the magnitude at 13.2. Designated SN 1995al, it was offset 15.0 west and 2.9″ south of the galactic nucleus.[9] The spectrum matched a type Ia supernova and was found to be similar to SN 1981b near maximum.[10] On 18 February 2023, a second supernova appeared in this galaxy: SN 2023bvj (Type II, mag. 17).[11]

References

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  1. ^ Hille, Karl (July 30, 2015). "Hubble View of a Cosmological Measuring Tape". NASA. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  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. ^ a b c d "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED)". California Institute of Technology. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Tully, R. Brent; et al. (August 2016). "Cosmicflows-3". The Astronomical Journal. 152 (2): 21. arXiv:1605.01765. Bibcode:2016AJ....152...50T. doi:10.3847/0004-6256/152/2/50. S2CID 250737862. 50.
  5. ^ a b c Anupama, G. C. (November 1997). "Optical Spectra of Recent Supernovae of Type Ia: SN1995AL, SN1997Y, SN1997BP". Astronomical Journal. 114: 2054. Bibcode:1997AJ....114.2054A. doi:10.1086/118625.
  6. ^ "NGC 3021". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  7. ^ Seligman, C. "NGC Objects: NGC 3000 - 3049". Celestial Atlas. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  8. ^ information@eso.org. "A cosmological measuring tape". www.spacetelescope.org. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
  9. ^ Pesci, S.; et al. (November 1995). Green, D. W. E. (ed.). "Supernova 1995al in NGC 3021". IAU Circular. 6255 (1): 1. Bibcode:1995IAUC.6255....1P.
  10. ^ Wei, J. -Y.; et al. (November 1995). Green, D. W. E. (ed.). "Supernova 1995al in NGC 3021". IAU Circular. 6256 (1): 1. Bibcode:1995IAUC.6256....1W.
  11. ^ "SN 2023bvj | Transient Name Server". www.wis-tns.org. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
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