NGC 545 is alenticular galaxy located in the constellationCetus. It is located at a distance of about 250 millionlight years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 545 is about 180,000 light years across. It was discovered byWilliam Herschel on October 1, 1785.[2] It is a member of theAbell 194 galaxy cluster and is included along with NGC 547 in theAtlas of Peculiar Galaxies.
A weak radio source withradio jets has been associated with NGC 545. The short jet crosses the much more prominent jet of NGC 547.[3] Observations of the centre of the galaxy byHubble Space Telescope did not reveal the presence of dust or disk features.[4] In the centre of the galaxy is believed to exist asupermassive black hole whose mass is estimated to be about 600 million (108.79)M☉ based on the stellar tidal disruption rate.[5]
NGC 545 forms a pair with the equally brightNGC 547, which lies 0.5 arcminutes away. They share a common envelope,[6] however, despite their close position, no tidal features like tails or bridges have been observed.[7] A stellar bridge has been detected between the galaxy pair andNGC 541,[8] which lies 4.5 arcminutes to the southwest (projected distance circa 100 kpc).[9]
Observations of the galaxy by theChandra X-Ray Observatory revealed sharp surface brightness edges on the northeastern part of the galaxy and an extended tail in the soft band. It has been presumed that these are the result of motion of NGC 545 towards the centre of the cluster that has been identified as the location of NGC 547.[10]
^Laine, Seppo; van der Marel, Roeland P.; Lauer, Tod R.; Postman, Marc; O'Dea, Christopher P.; Owen, Frazer N. (February 2003). "Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of Brightest Cluster Galaxies".The Astronomical Journal.125 (2):478–505.arXiv:astro-ph/0211074.Bibcode:2003AJ....125..478L.doi:10.1086/345823.S2CID118558349.
^Croft, Steve; van Breugel, Wil; de Vries, Wim; Dopita, Mike; Martin, Chris;Morganti, Raffaella; Neff, Susan; Oosterloo, Tom; Schiminovich, David; Stanford, S. A.; van Gorkom, Jacqueline (20 August 2006). "Minkowski's Object: A Starburst Triggered by a Radio Jet, Revisited".The Astrophysical Journal.647 (2):1040–1055.arXiv:astro-ph/0604557.Bibcode:2006ApJ...647.1040C.doi:10.1086/505526.S2CID119331218.
^Verdoes Kleijn, Gijs A.; Baum, Stefi A.; de Zeeuw, P. Tim; O'Dea, Chris P. (December 1999). "Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Nearby Radio-Loud Early-Type Galaxies".The Astronomical Journal.118 (6):2592–2617.arXiv:astro-ph/9909256.Bibcode:1999AJ....118.2592V.doi:10.1086/301135.
