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C29

NGC 5005

A spiral galaxy in southern central Canes Venatici, lying approximately three degrees southeastward of the third magnitude star Cor Caroli in the sky. C29 has an intermediate spiral form, showing some signs of developing a central structure without falling into the classification of a fully barred spiral. It lies some seventy-three million light years from the Milky Way, and is angled in such a way that its two prominent spiral arms can be clearly seen passing through the bright material of its galactic disc. The nucleus of the galaxy is brighter still, and produces strong X-ray emissions that are likely indicators of a central black hole.

Imagery provided by Aladin sky atlas

C29 (or NGC 5005) forms part of a pair of galaxies with its near neighbour, another spiral galaxy designated NGC 5033. Though distances are difficult to measure precisely in this context, the two galaxies appear to presently lie some three million light years apart, but are nonetheless gravitationally bound, and likely to interact with one another in the far distant future.

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