| NGC 517 | |
| Upright: | 1.35 |
| Epoch: | J2000[1] |
| Ra: | [2] |
| Constellation Name: | Pisces[3] |
| Type: | S0 |
| Appmag B: | 13.5 |
| Appmag V: | 12.5 |
| H Radial V: | (4169 ± 58) km/s |
| Dist Ly: | 188 Mly[4] |
| Z: | 0.014003 ± 0.000193 |
| Size V: | 1.4' × 0.5' |
| Names: | PGC 5214, UGC 960, GC 301, MGC +05-04-054, 2MASS J01244381+3325465, h 114[5] |
NGC 517, also occasionally referred to as PGC 5214 or UGC 960, is a lenticular galaxy located approximately 188 million light-years from the Solar System[4] in the constellation Pisces.[3] It was discovered on 13 September 1784 by astronomer William Herschel.[5]
Herschel discovered the object along with NGC 515 using Beta Andromedae as a reference star. He described his discovery as "two, both stellar", indicating his misidentification of the object as a star. While Herschel only noted one position about 35" east of NGC 515, Heinrich d'Arrest made the first accurate measurement of the object, using observation data of three separate nights.[6] The object was also observed by John Herschel, son of William Herschel and later catalogued by John Louis Emil Dreyer in the New General Catalogue, where the galaxy was described as "pretty faint, round, stellar, southeastern of 2" with the other one being NGC 515.[5]
The galaxy has an apparent visual magnitude of 12.5 and can be classified as type S0 using the Hubble Sequence.[3] The object's distance of roughly 190 million light-years from the Solar System can be estimated using its redshift and Hubble's law.[4]