NGC 5008 (also known as IC 4381) is a massive barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Boötes.
Details
It is located 530 million light-years away from the Solar System and was discovered by Heinrich d'Arrest, a Prussian astronomer on May 18, 1862 as NGC 5008. It was again discovered on June 15, 1895 by Stephane Javelle who listed it in the Index Catalogue as IC 4381. With a diameter of 400,000 light-years, NGC 5008 easily dwarfs the Milky Way and is considered one of the largest galaxies. According to the SIMBAD Database, NGC 5008 has a LINER type active galactic nucleus. It has a surface brightness magnitude of 14.07, meaning it is a low-surface brightness galaxy.
Possible central black hole
A quasar the mass of about 432 million suns (Radius of 1.834K Suns) take place at the center of NGC 5008. By calculating the Virial theorem and the calculation of luminosity with fluxes, it was possible to calculate the mass of the quasar.
Group membership
NGC 5008 is the dominant member of the Hickson Compact group, HCG 71. The other members of the group are IC 4382, PGC 50640 and PGC 50641, which is further away compared to the other galaxies.
