NGC 5068

NGC 5068 is a face-on field barred spiral galaxy in the Virgo constellation. NGC 5068 is located approximately 22 million light-years away and has a diameter that exceeds 45000 light-years.^[2][3] It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on 10 March 1785.^[4]

NGC 5068
Pan-STARRS image of NGC 5068
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Virgo
Right ascension	13h 18m 54.7658s[1]
Declination	−21° 02′ 19.705″[1]
Redshift	0.002235[1]
Heliocentric radial velocity	670 ± 1 km/s[1]
Distance	22 Mly (6.8 Mpc)[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)	10.5[1]
Characteristics
Type	SB(s)d[1]
Size	~68,200 ly (20.91 kpc) (estimated)[1]
Apparent size (V)	7.2′ × 6.3′[1]
Other designations
ESO 576- G 029, IRAS 13161-2046, UGCA 345, MCG -03-34-046, PGC 46400[1]

Although no supernovae have been observed in NGC 5068 yet, a luminous red nova, designated AT 2020hat (type LRN, mag. 17.8), was discovered by ATLAS on 12 April 2020.^[5][6]