NGC 5090 and NGC 5091

NGC 5090 and NGC 5091 are a set of galaxies approximately 160 million light-years (50 million parsecs) away in the constellation Centaurus.^[1] They are in the process of colliding and merging with some evidence of tidal disruption of NGC 5091.^[2]

NGC 5090 and NGC 5091
NGC 5091 (left) and NGC 5090 (right)
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Centaurus
Right ascension	5090: 13h 21m 12.8s 5091: 13h 21m 17.7s
Declination	5090: −43° 42′ 16.4″ 5091: −43° 43′ 10.8″
Redshift	5090: 0.01141±0.00007 5091: 0.01177±0.00048
Heliocentric radial velocity	5090: 3,420.93±20.98 5091: 3,528.86±145.10
Distance	5090: 50.37 ± 3.55 Mpc      (164.3 ± 11.6 Mly) 5091: 51.85 ± 4.15 Mpc      (169.1 ± 13.5 Mly)
Apparent magnitude (V)	5090: 11.51 5091: 13.35
Apparent magnitude (B)	5090: 12.59 5091: 13.94
Absolute magnitude (V)	5090: −24.8 5091: −21.0
Characteristics
Type	5090: E2 5091: Sb pec sp
Apparent size (V)	5090: 2′.9 × 2′.4 5091: 1′.8 × 0′.5
Notable features	Interacting galaxies
Other designations
PGC 46618 / 46626, ESO 270-2 / 270-4, LEDA 46618 / 46626, 2MASX J13211286-4342168 / J13211859-4343244
References: [1]

NGC 5090 is an elliptical galaxy while NGC 5091 is a barred spiral galaxy.^[1] The radial velocity of the nucleus of NGC 5090 has been measured at 3,185 km/s (1,979 mi/s), while NGC 5091 has a radial velocity of 3,429 km/s (2,131 mi/s).^[2] NGC 5090 is associated with the strong, double radio source PKS 1318-43.^[2]

Supernovae

Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 5090:

• SN 1981C (type unknown, mag. 14.5) was discovered by José Maza on 2 March 1981.^[3][4]
• SN 2025cy (Type Ia, mag. 18.03) was discovered by BlackGEM on 1 January 2025.^[5]

See also

• ESO 269-57
• NGC 2207 and IC 2163
• NGC 6872 and IC 4970
• List of NGC objects (5001–6000)