NGC 5033 - Warped Spiral Galaxy in Canes Venatici

NGC 5033, a sprawling SA(s)c spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici, lies at a distance of roughly 16–17 Mpc, or about 54–57 million light-years. Its very bright nucleus hosts a Seyfert-type active galactic nucleus, powered by a supermassive black hole. Interestingly, integral-field spectroscopy and dynamical studies suggest the AGN is offset from the kinematic center of the galaxy, possibly hinting at a past minor merger event.

NGC 5033’s disk shows a significant warping, especially in the southern region, and radio / HI observations reveal an asymmetric extended plume of neutral hydrogen gas about ~6 kpc south of the disk. Molecular gas mapping (CO J=1–0) further indicates there may be a small nuclear bar or oval distortion (~1.1–1.4 kpc in size), despite the galaxy being traditionally classified as “non-barred.” The galaxy is also a relatively strong radio source: VLA imaging shows a core–jet structure on ≲100 pc scales, and extended radio emission consistent with recent star formation.

This image present almost 22 hours of LRGB integration gathered with Telescope Live’s SPA-2 CCD system.

Sources:

wikipedia.org

researchportal.bath.ac.uk

theskylive.com

universemap.net

Data credit: Telescope.Live