NGC 5068

 BARRED SPIRAL GALAXY IN (THE MAIDEN)

(Image centered at: ra 13h:18 m / dec -21º 02')

ANNOTATED IMAGE 100% RESOLUTION

JUNE 2026, Observatorio Cielos Albertnos, Buenos Aires, Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Barred Spiral Galaxy

APPARENT DIAMETER:  7.2 x 6.3 arc minutes

APPARENT MAGNITUDE (V): 10.5

DISTANCE: 22 Million light years

IMAGE INFORMATION

INSTRUMENT: Orion Optics UK 6" Newtonian with Ultra Grade Optics working at f 4.5

CAMERA: QHY 183 Mono Camera

MOUNT: SKY WATCHER NEQ6 Guided off axis with QHY 5II Mono Camera 

FILTERS: Baader LRGB Set 

SKY CONDITIONS: Bortle 3 skies

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

NGC 5068 is a barred spiral galaxy with thousands of star-forming regions and large quantities of interstellar dust. It was first discovered by British astronomer William Herschel on March the 10th of 1785.  NGC 5068 sits in the southern region of the constellation Virgo and is around 20 million light-years away. Astronomers estimate the galaxy is 45,000 light-years in diameter which is half the size of our Milky Way. NGC 5068 has a bright central bar, a densely packed region of mature stars. A black hole lurks behind the bar, tugging the stars together with its intense gravitational pull. The bright pinkish-red splotches the image are regions of ionized hydrogen gas where young star clusters lie.

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NGC 5068 belongs to the NGC 5128 Group (also known as the Centaurus A Group). This group is a prominent, relatively nearby collection of galaxies in the southern sky that also includes the starburst galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128) and the spiral galaxy M83.

NGC 5068 - ANNOTATED IMAGE 100% RESOLUTION

BARRED SPIRAL GALAXY IN VIRGO (THE MAIDEN)

Image Plate Solver script version 5.6.2
===============================================================================
Referentiation matrix (world[ra,dec] = matrix * image[x,y]):
 +1.95191481e-04  +6.03476241e-05  -6.52232723e-01
 -6.03830602e-05  +1.95195637e-04  -1.92167295e-01
WCS transformation ....... Linear
Projection ............... Gnomonic
Projection origin ........ [2772.009321 1841.996603] px -> [RA: 13 18 53.603  Dec: -21 02 14.47]
Resolution ............... 0.736 arcsec/px
Rotation ................. -162.814 deg
Reference system ......... ICRS
Observation start time ... 2026-06-15 03:05:13 UTC
Observation end time ..... 2026-06-15 03:08:13 UTC
Geodetic coordinates .....  58 31 05 W  34 29 19 S  50 m
Focal distance ........... 673.03 mm
Pixel size ............... 2.40 um
Field of view ............ 1d 7' 57.8" x 45' 9.7"
Image center ............. RA: 13 18 53.603  Dec: -21 02 14.47
Image bounds:
   top-left .............. RA: 13 16 05.680  Dec: -21 13 41.08
   top-right ............. RA: 13 20 44.540  Dec: -21 33 49.08
   bottom-left ........... RA: 13 17 03.448  Dec: -20 30 35.39
   bottom-right .......... RA: 13 21 41.093  Dec: -20 50 37.58