AAO image reference AAT 120. « Previous || Next »
Top left is NE. Image width is about 12 arc min
Image and text © 2001-2010, Australian Astronomical Observatory, photograph by David Malin.
NGC 5101 is one of a number of inconspicuous galaxies scattered over the southern part of Hydra. While these may appear as outliers of the Centaurus cluster that includes M83 and NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) many are much more distant. NGC 5101 is about 90 million light years away, a rather similar distance to NGC 5078, which is less than 30 arc minutes away on the sky.
The galaxy is only slightly inclined (at 28 degrees) to our line of sight so we see it almost face-on. NGC 5101 has an extensive but faint outer ring and a much brighter lenticular central part with traces of spiral structure, seemingly unconnected to the outer ring.
Related Images
AAT 99. NGC 5078 and its distorted companion IC 879
n5101d Deep image of NGC 5078 and NGC 5101
Constellation of Hydra (external site)
For details of photographic exposure, search technical table by AAT reference number.