NGC 6185

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NGC 6185
NGC 6185.png
PanSTARRS DR1 image of NGC 6185
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Hercules
Right ascension 16h 33m 17.83s
Declination +35° 20′ 32.43"
Redshift 0.034304
Heliocentric radial velocity 10108
Distance 492.9 mly (152.04 mpc)
Group or cluster Abell 2199
Apparent magnitude  (B)14.5
Characteristics
Type Sa
Mass 295.1 billion  M☉
Size239,400 ly (73,410 pc)
Apparent size  (V)1.2' x 0.9'
Other designations
UGC 10444, KUG 1631+354, CGCG 196-077

NGC 6185 also commonly referred as UGC 10444, is a LINER and spiral galaxy of morphological type Sa. [1] It is at redshift z = 0.034304 which is equivalent to 492.9 million light years away in the constellation of Hercules and has an apparent B magnitude of 14.5. [1] [2] The galaxy was discovered in April, 1827 by British astronomer John Herschel. [3]

Contents

Physical properties

NGC 6185 is a massive spiral Sa galaxy in the galaxy cluster Abell 2199. It is 239,000 light years (73,410 parsecs) across based on an angular diameter of 1.2 arcmin and a distance of 492.9 million light years (152.04 megaparsecs) away. [2] It has a stellar mass of 295.1 billion M☉ and is believed to be a starburst galaxy. [4]

It has an active galactic nucleus (AGN) that is also classified as a quasar [1] and is estimated to be extremely bright with a luminosity of 131.5 billion L☉. [4] The active galactic nucleus of NGC 6185 is powered by a 600 million M☉ black hole accreting matter that is ejected far beyond the physical galaxy, forming its immense radio lobes. [4] The central black hole mass is high, however it is expected for giant radio galaxies (GRGs) and is comparable to similar spiral-hosted radio galaxies such as J2345-0449. [4] Although, the active galactic nucleus is potentially inactive and the radio structure is a remnant. [4]

In 2016, an ultraluminous X-ray source was discovered in NGC 6185. It was designated CXOU J163317.7+352018 and has an estimated luminosity of 2.217*10^41 erg/s or 57.9 million L☉. [5]

LoTSS image of the radio lobes of NGC 6185 NGC 6185 radio lobes.png
LoTSS image of the radio lobes of NGC 6185

In 2022, it was found in the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey for giants (LoTSS) that NGC 6185 generated radio lobes spanning ~2.54 megaparsecs, making it the largest known spiral galaxy-hosted radio galaxy. It greatly surpasses the previous largest spiral radio galaxy, J2345-0449, which has an extent of ~1.63 megaparsecs. [4] [6] The radio structure is a Fanaroff-Riley class II radio galaxy which are edge-brightened and far more luminous than their counterpart, and it is also a double lobed radio galaxy, so it is technically classified as a spiral DRAGN. [4] The total exact length of the radio structure is 2.544 megaparsecs or roughly 8,297,000 light years, comparable to the Local Group and other small galaxy clusters. [6] This estimate is based on an angular diameter of 60 arcmin, which is the second largest of any GRG. [6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "NGC 6185". SIMBAD. Retrieved 2025-11-29.
  2. 1 2 "NED results for NGC 6185". NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Retrieved 2025-11-29.
  3. ↑ "NGC 6150-6199". New General Catalog Objects. Retrieved 2025-11-29.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Oei, Martijn (2022). "An intergalactic medium temperature from a giant radio galaxy". ArXiv. Retrieved 2025-11-29.
  5. ↑ Gong, Hang (2016). "An Extreme Luminous X-ray Source Catalog Based on Chandra ACIS Observations". NASA ADS. Retrieved 2025-11-30.
  6. 1 2 3 Oei, Martijn (2022). "Measuring the giant radio galaxy distribution with the LoTSS". ArXiv. Retrieved 2025-11-29.
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