NGC 5502

NGC 5502 (also known as NGC 5503) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major,^[3][4] registered in New General Catalogue (NGC).^[1]

NGC 5502
SDSS image of NGC 5502
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Ursa Major
Right ascension	14h 09m 33.9s[1]
Declination	+60° 24′ 34.3″[1]
Redshift	0.02940[1]
Heliocentric radial velocity	8684 km/s[1]
Galactocentric velocity	8949 km/s[2]
Distance	400 ± 28 Mly (122.6 ± 8.6 Mpc)[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)	15.9[2]
Absolute magnitude (V)	-19.5[nb 1]
Characteristics
Type	Sa D[2]
Apparent size (V)	0.63' x 0.29'[2]
Other designations
MCG +10-20-077, PGC 50508[1][3]

Observation history

NGC 5502 was discovered by Edward Swift (father) on 9 May 1885 and later double listed by Lewis Swift (son) two days later on 11 May 1885 as NGC 5503.^[3] They gave descriptions "between two stars, one a wide double" and "forms with two stars a right triangle" respectively.^[4] In the New General Catalogue, John Louis Emil Dreyer described the galaxy as "most extremely faint, very small, round, very difficult, 2 stars near".^[3] The apparent difference in positions (2 arcmin) could have caused the confusions between NGC 5502 and NGC 5503.^[3]

Notes

1. Calculated from Galactocentric GSR Distance modulus^[2]