Our galaxy is unfathomably huge, as it’s the host of roughly 200 billion stars. But guess what? Our galaxy is just one out of trillions of other galaxies that have been discovered so far in the observable Universe. God knows how many galaxies truly exist in the whole Universe or if there are even other universes out there.
NGC 5068 is one of those galaxies that deserve attention from astronomers. It’s located very far away from us – roughly 22 million light-years away, to be more precise. While there’s no apparent way to travel there so far, the good news is that astronomers can still take a peek at what’s going on thanks to the huge powers of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Webb’s looked at galaxies from both sides now…
From dust structures in mid-infrared light to stars in near-infrared light, Webb’s dual vision is helping us to see star-forming regions — such as galaxy NGC 5068 — as never before: https://t.co/hcKATghK07 pic.twitter.com/6n2YLejv9l
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) June 2, 2023
NGC 5068, which is nestled within the Virgo constellation, has the celestial coordinates precisely noted as right ascension 13h 18m 54.8s and declination -21° 02′ 21″, allowing astronomers to locate it in the vastness of the night sky. This cosmic entity exhibits a redshift value of 0.002228, signaling the gradual retreat from our perspective as the Universe continues its everlasting expansion.
Remarkably, NGC 5068 showcases a heliocentric radial velocity of roughly 668 ± 3 km/s, illustrating its departure from our Solar System at a notable pace. Situated at a considerable cosmic distance of around 6.8 megaparsecs from our planet, this spiral galaxy unveils its grandeur to us. Radiating with an apparent magnitude of 10.5, NGC 5068 reveals itself to keen observers armed with medium-sized telescopes or larger, inviting them to explore its cosmic wonders.
Stars are born and die each and every day across the Cosmos. Our Milky Way galaxy, for instance, produces six to seven stars each year.
Next time you feel too big and important, you could remind yourself about the fact that the Milky Way galaxy measures 100,000 light-years in its diameter.
Tommy’s hobby has always been playing video games. He enjoys competing in video games tournaments and writing about his experience. It’s not a big surprise that he mostly covers the latest trends from the gaming industry.