NGC 5054 and MCG -3-34-40
A pair of Spiral Galaxies

Supernova 2004 ab:

• Discovered: February 21, 2004, by Berto Monard
• Magnitude: 14.7 at discovery and 18.0 in the Kopernik image.
• Type: Ia
• The supernova expansion velocity is 10,400 km/s.

Spiral Galaxy NGC 5054 is an outlying member of the NGC 5044 Galaxy Group. However, the redshift is different enough from the group red shift to suggest a foreground location. There are three main arms. The two high-surface-brightness arms are studded with H-II regions. Note the faint surface brightness of the spiral pattern at the outer extensions of the main arms. This galaxy has a small, very bright, complex nucleus with a possible ring structure.

Galaxy MCG -03-34-040 is located about 3 arc minutes to the north. It appears to be a spiral galaxy that is possibly interacting with NGC 50540, but it may also be a distant background galaxy. There is no certain evidence of interaction and astronomers have not determined this galaxy's red shift.

Using the red shift data from the “NASA Extra-galactic Data Base(NED)”, (and a Hubble Constant of 62 Km per sec., per Megaparsec), one can calculate a rough distance for NGC 5054 and Supernova 2004ab of 92 million light years. At that distance the galaxy diameter would be 136,900 light years.

NGC 5054 Magnitude: 11.5 Constellation: Virgo RA: 13h 16m 58.4s Dec: -16° 38' 07" Epoch 2000 Size (mins): 5.1' x 3.0' Classification: SA(s)bc        Spiral Galaxy, S-shaped, Luminosity Class I-II Deep Sky Field Guide:        "Small, very bright nucleus, three main bright arms."

MCG -3-34-40 Magnitude: 16.0 RA: 13h 17m 04.2s Dec: -16° 35' 48" Epoch 2000 Size (mins): 0.8' x 0.2' Classification: Spiral ?        Spiral Galaxy, Possibly interacting with NGC 5054, but it may also be a distant background galaxy.

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George Normandin, KAS

May 31st, 2004