NGC 5247 is a face-on unbarred spiral galaxy located some 60 million light years away in the constellationVirgo. It is a member of the Virgo II Groups, a series of galaxies and galaxy clusters strung out from the southern edge of the Virgo Supercluster. This is a grand design spiral galaxy that displays no indications of distortion caused by interaction with other galaxies. It has two spiral arms that bifurcate after wrapping halfway around the nucleus. The disk is estimated to be 4.9 ± 2.0 kly (1.5 ± 0.6 kpc) in thickness and it is inclined by roughly 28° to the line of sight.
^ Skrutskie, Michael F.; Cutri, Roc M.; Stiening, Rae; Weinberg, Martin D.; Schneider, Stephen E.; Carpenter, John M.; Beichman, Charles A.; Capps, Richard W.; Chester, Thomas; Elias, Jonathan H.; Huchra, John P.; Liebert, James W.; Lonsdale, Carol J.; Monet, David G.; Price, Stephan; Seitzer, Patrick; Jarrett, Thomas H.; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Gizis, John E.; Howard, Elizabeth V.; Evans, Tracey E.; Fowler, John W.; Fullmer, Linda; Hurt, Robert L.; Light, Robert M.; Kopan, Eugene L.; Marsh, Kenneth A.; McCallon, Howard L.; Tam, Robert; Van Dyk, Schuyler D.; Wheelock, Sherry L. (1 February 2006). "The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)". The Astronomical Journal. 131 (2): 1163–1183. Bibcode:2006AJ....131.1163S. doi:10.1086/498708. ISSN0004-6256. S2CID18913331.
^Patsis, P. A.; et al. (July 1997), "Interarm features in gaseous models of spiral galaxies", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 323: 762–774, Bibcode:1997A&A...323..762P.
Media related to NGC 5247 at Wikimedia Commons
