| NGC 521 | |
|---|---|
 NGC 521 as seen on an image recorded theMount Lemmon Observatory using the 32-inch Schulmanreflecting telescope in 2015 | |
| Observation data (J2000[1]epoch) | |
| Constellation | Cetus[2] |
| Right ascension | 01h 24m 33.8s[3] |
| Declination | +01° 24′ 33.8″[3] |
| Redshift | 0.016902[1] |
| Heliocentric radial velocity | 5024.3 km/s[1] |
| Distance | 224Mly[4] |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 11.7[2] |
| Apparent magnitude (B) | 12.5[2] |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | SBbc[2] |
| Apparent size (V) | 2.7' × 2.4'[2] |
| Other designations | |
| PGC 5190,UGC 962,GC 304,MGC +00-04-118,2MASS J01243377+0143532,h 115,IRAS 01219+0128[1][5] | |
NGC 521, also occasionally referred to asPGC 5190 orUGC 962, is abarred spiral galaxy located approximately 224 million light-years from theSolar System[4] in the constellationCetus.[2] It was discovered on 8 October 1785 byastronomerWilliam Herschel.[5]
Herschel described his discovery as "faint, pretty large, irregular round, brighter middle". Further observations were made by both his son,John Herschel, who simply noted "big" on his first and "very faint" on his second observation, as well asR. J. Mitchell, who noted "pretty big, spiral galaxy, disc enveloped in faint outlying neby and looks like an unresolved cluster."[6] NGC 521 was later catalogued byJohn Louis Emil Dreyer in theNew General Catalogue, where the galaxy was described as "faint, pretty large, round, gradually brighter middle".[5]
Threesupernovae have been observed in NGC 521:
The galaxy's large apparent size can be attributed to the fact that it is face-on. Despite its size, it only has anapparent visual magnitude of 11.7. It can be classified as spiral galaxy of type SBbc using theHubble Sequence.[2] The object's distance of roughly 220 million light-years from the Solar System can be estimated using itsredshift andHubble's law.[4]
