NGC 6993 is a large barred spiral galaxy in the constellation of Capricornus. Its velocity with respect to the cosmic microwave background is 5,824±18 km/s, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of 280.2 ± 19.6 Mly (85.91 ± 6.02 Mpc). It was discovered by American astronomer Francis Leavenworth on 8 July 1885.
NGC 6993 has a possible active galactic nucleus, i.e. it has a compact region at the center of a galaxy that emits a significant amount of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, with characteristics indicating that this luminosity is not produced by the stars.
Galaxy group
NGC 6993 is a member of a small group of three galaxies known as [CHM2007] LDC 1426. The other two galaxies are ESO 529-5 and ESO 529-10.
Supernova
One Supernova has been observed in NGC 6993:
- SN 2020pvb (Type IIn, mag. 21.04) was discovered by Pan-STARRS on 18 July 2020. This supernova was initially detected during a pre-explosion outburst, with the actual supernova occurring several weeks later. Spectral signatures and a plateau-like light curve led scientists to classify SN 2020pvb as Type IIn-P, similar to SN 1994W, SN 2009kn, and SN 2011ht.
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