NGC 5506 explained

NGC 5506
Epoch:J2000
Type:Sa pec sp [1]
Dist Ly:77 ± 15 Mly (23.6 ± 4.6 Mpc)
Z:0.006084 ± 0.000009
H Radial V:1,824 ± 3 km/s
Appmag V:11.9
Size V:3.16 × 0.75
Constellation Name:Virgo
Notes:Seyfert galaxy
Names:UGCΑ 387, MRK 1376, MCG +00-36-028, PGC 50782

NGC 5506 is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. It is located at a distance of about 75 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 5506 is about 80,000 light years across. It was discovered by William Herschel on April 15, 1787.[2] It is a Seyfert galaxy.

Characteristics

NGC 5506 is a spiral galaxy seen edge-on, with dust lanes visible south of the nucleus.[3]

Active nucleus

The nucleus of NGC 5506 has been found to be active and it has been categorised as a narrow line type I Seyfert galaxy, and is the brightest such nucleus.[4] The classification of the active nucleus had been an issue of debate, as it lacked broad emission lines in the visual wavelength. However, broader lines were observed in the infrared,[5] indicating that the broad line region is obscured in visual light.[4]

The most accepted theory for the energy source of active galactic nuclei is the presence of an accretion disk around a supermassive black hole. The mass of the black hole in the centre of NGC 5506 is estimated to be based on stellar velocity dispersion and based on the MBH–σ⋆ relation and X-ray variability.[6]

NGC 5506 is a bright X-ray source, detected by all X-ray space observatories, starting with Uhuru.[7] The X-ray spectrum indicates that there is both a compton-thick and a compton-thin absorber. The compton-thick absorber is a dust torus around the supermassive black hole at a distance of around one parsec, while the compton thin absorbs the softer X-rays emitted by the nucleus.[7] The soft emission by the nucleus extends to a distance of about 350 pc and is attributed to reflection of the nuclear emission by photoionized gas.[7] The inclination of the accretion disk is estimated to be between 40° and 50°.[8] The iron line is complex, indicating emission by neutral and ionised iron.[9] A broad component of the Fe Kα fluorescent emission line was observed by XMM-Newton.[10]

The galaxy also emits radiowaves. The galaxy exhibits a central source that accounts for 75% of the total emission and diffuse wing-like emission towards the north-west and east of the nucleus and a low-surface-brightness halo measuring 2.75 arcseconds in diameter that surrounds these features.[11] The features have no clear axis of symmetry.[12] The galaxy has been found to host an megamaser.[13]

Nearby galaxies

NGC 5506 is the foremost galaxy in a galaxy group known as the NGC 5506 Group. Other members of the group include NGC 5507, while IC 978 lies a bit farther away.[14] Garcia identified as members of group also the galaxies NGC 5496, and UGC 9057.[15] NGC 5506 forms a pair with NGC 5507, which lies 4 arcminutes from it.[16] The group is part of the Virgo III Groups, a very obvious chain of galaxy groups on the left side of the Virgo cluster, stretching across 40 million light years of space.[17]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database . Results for NGC 5506 . 2023-05-06 .
  2. Web site: Seligman . Courtney . NGC 5506 . Celestial Atlas . 19 November 2018.
  3. Martini . Paul . Regan . Michael W. . Mulchaey . John S. . Pogge . Richard W. . Circumnuclear Dust in Nearby Active and Inactive Galaxies. I. Data . The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series . June 2003 . 146 . 2 . 353–406 . 10.1086/367817. free .
  4. Nagar . N. M. . Oliva . E. . Marconi . A. . Maiolino . R. . NGC 5506 unmasked as a Narrow Line Seyfert 1:: A direct view of the broad line region using near-IR spectroscopy . Astronomy & Astrophysics . August 2002 . 391 . 2 . L21–L24 . 10.1051/0004-6361:20021039. free .
  5. Goodrich . Robert W. . Veilleux . Sylvain . Hill . Gary J. . Infrared spectroscopy of Seyfert 2 galaxies: A look through the obscuring Torus? . The Astrophysical Journal . February 1994 . 422 . 521 . 10.1086/173746. free .
  6. Nikołajuk . M. . Czerny . B. . Gurynowicz . P. . NLS1 galaxies and estimation of their central black hole masses from the X-ray excess variance method . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 21 April 2009 . 394 . 4 . 2141–2152 . 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14478.x. 0901.1442 .
  7. Bianchi . S. . Balestra . I. . Matt . G. . Guainazzi . M. . Perola . G. C. . The recent X–ray history of NGC 5506 . Astronomy & Astrophysics . April 2003 . 402 . 1 . 141–149 . 10.1051/0004-6361:20030210. free .
  8. Sun . Shangyu . Guainazzi . Matteo . Ni . Qingling . Wang . Jingchun . Qian . Chenyang . Shi . Fangzheng . Wang . Yu . Bambi . Cosimo . Multi-epoch analysis of the X-ray spectrum of the active galactic nucleus in NGC 5506 . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 1 August 2018 . 478 . 2 . 1900–1910 . 10.1093/mnras/sty1233. 1704.03716 .
  9. Matt . G. . Guainazzi . M. . Perola . G. C. . Fiore . F. . Nicastro . F. . Cappi . M. . Piro . L. . The complex iron line of NGC 5506 . Astronomy & Astrophysics . October 2001 . 377 . 3 . L31–L34 . 10.1051/0004-6361:20011209. free .
  10. Guainazzi . M. . Bianchi . S. . Matt . G. . Dadina . M. . Kaastra . J. . Malzac . J. . Risaliti . G. . Final verdict from XMM-Newton: the X-ray obscured Seyfert galaxy NGC 5506 has a broad Fe Kα line: Broad Kα Fe line in NGC 5506 . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . June 2010 . no–no . 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.16805.x. 1004.1442 .
  11. Orienti . M. . Prieto . M. A. . Radio structures of the nuclei of nearby Seyfert galaxies and the nature of the missing diffuse emission . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 1 February 2010 . 401 . 4 . 2599–2610 . 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15837.x. 0911.0852 .
  12. Middelberg . E. . Roy . A. L. . Nagar . N. M. . Krichbaum . T. P. . Norris . R. P. . Wilson . A. S. . Falcke . H. . Colbert . E. J. M. . Witzel . A. . Fricke . K. J. . Motion and properties of nuclear radio components in Seyfert galaxies seen with VLBI . Astronomy & Astrophysics . April 2004 . 417 . 3 . 925–944 . 10.1051/0004-6361:20040019. free .
  13. Braatz . J. A. . Wilson . A. S. . Henkel . C. . The discovery of five new H2O megamasers in active galaxies . The Astrophysical Journal . December 1994 . 437 . L99 . 10.1086/187692.
  14. Makarov. Dmitry. Karachentsev. Igor. Galaxy groups and clouds in the local (z~ 0.01) Universe. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 21 April 2011. 412. 4. 2498–2520. 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.18071.x. 2011MNRAS.412.2498M. 1011.6277. 119194025. 12 January 2019. 31 January 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160131020344/http://www.sao.ru/hq/dim/groups/galaxies.dat. dead.
  15. Garcia . A. M. . General study of group membership. II. Determination of nearby groups. . Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series . 1 July 1993 . 100 . 47–90 . 1993A&AS..100...47G . 0365-0138.
  16. de Vaucouleurs . G. . de Vaucouleurs . A. . Corwin . J. R. . Second reference catalogue of bright galaxies . Second reference catalogue of bright galaxies . 1 January 1976 . 1976 .
  17. Web site: The Virgo III Groups . www.atlasoftheuniverse.com . 9 January 2019.

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