astronomy

NGC 5383

NGC 5383 is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand NGC 5383 rather than just read about it. In short: NGC 5383 also known as Markarian 281, is a grand design spiral galaxy, barred spiral galaxy, starburst galaxy, and radio galaxy in the constellation of Canes Venatici. The galaxy has an visual magnitude of 11.4, which is visible with a small telescope.

Key takeaways

NGC 5383 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect NGC 5383 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of NGC 5383 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

NGC 5383 also known as Markarian 281, is a grand design spiral galaxy, barred spiral galaxy, starburst galaxy, and radio galaxy in the constellation of Canes Venatici. The galaxy has an visual magnitude of 11.4, which is visible with a small telescope. The galaxy is considered a prototype barred spiral galaxy along with NGC 1300. The galaxy is very near, at redshift z = 0.007572, equivalent to a distance of roughly 111 million light years (34 megaparsecs). The galaxy is located in the galaxy cluster designated LGG 363, which includes this galaxy, NGC 5362, NGC 5353, and NGC 5337. NGC 5383 was discovered on April 9th, 1787 by William Herschel, and was described as "considerably bright, considerably large, round, and a gradually brighter middle".

Characteristics NGC 5383 is a typical sized spiral galaxy in the galaxy cluster, LGG 363. The galaxy has a physical diameter of 152,000 light years (46,540 parsecs), or about one and half times the size of the Milky Way. This diameter is based on an angular diameter of 4.71 arcmin (282 arcsecs) from the 2MASS K-band total mag and a mean redshift-independent distance of ~111 million light years (~34 megaparsecs) away. NGC 5383 has a large, massive, diffuse halo composed of neutral atomic hydrogen. The halo of NGC 5383 has a size of 1.63 million light years (500,000 parsecs), and the halo has a stellar population of mainly metal-poor white dwarfs. The large halo of NGC 5383 has an estimated mass of 263 billion M☉, or roughly four or five times less massive than the halo of the Milky Way. NGC 5383 has a predicted stellar mass of 48.6 billion M☉, or approximately 4 times less massive than the stellar mass of the Milky Way. The galaxy has a young stellar population of O-type stars and B-type stars in the galactic bulge of NGC 5383. The galaxy is also considered as a mild starburst galaxy with a star-formation rate of 0.126 M☉, similar to the star-formation rate of IC 10. NGC 5383 has a corrected absolute B magnitude of -21.3 based on an apparent B magnitude of 12.5, which is equal to a total galactic luminosity of 48 billion L☉. NGC 5383 has ten to twenty bright H II regions, similar to the giant H II regions in the Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101). Five of these H II regions near the galactic center of NGC 5383 have been classified as emission nebulae. The largest of the H II regions are up to 13,000 light years (4,000 parsecs) across, and the total mass of the H II regions is 2 billion M☉. NGC 5383 is interacting with three known galaxies, UGC 8877, LAMOST J135707.72+415027.2, and LAMOST J135700.66+415114.9. One of these galaxies, UGC 8877 is warping the dust lane of NGC 5383, causing these two galaxies to be connected by a gas flow extending 147,000 light years (45,000 parsecs) across. The galactic center of NGC 5383 contains a active galactic nucleus (also known as an AGN) The active galactic nucleus is powered by a 63.1 million M☉ central supermassive black hole (also referred as an SMBH), which accretes matter and ejects it forming the galaxy's radio lobes. It was first found in 1978 that NGC 5383 was a radio galaxy, and hosted galaxy-scale relativistic jets that are 46,000 light years (14,000 parsecs) across. In 2023, it was discovered in the second data-release of the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) that NGC 5383 generated radio lobes with an extent of 214,000 light years (65,550 parsecs) across. The double radio lobed structure of NGC 5383 have a class II Fanaroff-Riley morphology, which are edge-brightened and far more luminous than their counterpart. NGC 5383 is the second spiral DRAGN discovered that it is hosted by a grand-design spiral galaxy.

Supernova One supernova has been identified in NGC 5383: SN 2005cc, which had a peak magnitude of 17.7 and it was classified a peculiar Type Ia supernova (SNIa pec). SN 2005cc was discovered in May 2005 by Tim Puckett and Alex Langoussis. Type Ia supernovae happen when two stars merge together, with one of the stars being a white dwarf.

See also NGC 1300, another barred spiral galaxy Pinwheel Galaxy, similar grand-design spiral galaxy.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with NGC 5383

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what NGC 5383 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to NGC 5383 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about NGC 5383 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of NGC 5383

In research: NGC 5383 appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses NGC 5383 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: NGC 5383 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Active galaxies, Barred spiral galaxies, LEDA objects, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for NGC 5383 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study NGC 5383 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what NGC 5383 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain NGC 5383 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is NGC 5383 in simple terms?

Why does NGC 5383 matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study NGC 5383?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on NGC 5383.