NGC 5248 - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Boötes

NGC 5248 (Caldwell 45) is an intermediate barred spiral in the constellation Boötes, usually classed as SAB(rs)bc, whose grand-design spiral pattern and bright inner disk host striking circumnuclear structure. Distance estimates in the literature vary—Hubble/press releases often quote ≈42 million light-years, while some catalogues and observing guides use values near ≈50–60 million light-years.

What makes NGC 5248 particularly interesting to high-resolution imagers is its nested central morphology: large-scale bar-driven spirals that feed two concentric circumnuclear star-forming rings and a network of molecular spirals which channel gas inward to fuel intense, compact star clusters. These nuclear rings lie at radii of order a few hundred parsecs and host young super-star clusters and prominent H II regions; dynamical and CO studies show streaming motions and bar-driven density waves as the prime mechanisms. The nucleus itself is spectroscopically quiet compared with classical Seyferts, but the inner few hundred parsecs are a rich laboratory of starburst and gas dynamics.

5 hours of LRGB integration acquired with Telescope Live’s CHI-1-CCD system. The frames were taken binned 2×2 and later upscaled by a 2× drizzle during integration to recover sampling; the data suffered from very low signal in the outer disk and numerous dust motes across the optical train that required extensive cosmetic cleaning.

Sources:

wikipedia.org

science.nasa.gov

deepskycorner.ch

Data credit: Telescope.Live