NGC 5253

NGC 5253 is located within the M83 Subgroup of the Centaurus A/M83 Group, a relatively nearby galaxy group that includes the radio galaxy Centaurus A and the spiral galaxy M83 (the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy). NGC 5253 is considered a dwarf starburst galaxy and also a blue compact galaxy. ==Supernovae==

Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 5253: • SN 1895B (type unknown, mag. 8) was discovered by Williamina Fleming on 7 July 1895. • SN 1972E (Type Ia, mag. 8.5), the second-brightest recent supernova visible from Earth, was discovered by Charles Kowal on 13 May 1972. With a peak apparent magnitude of 8.5, the only brighter supernova observed in the 20th century was SN 1987A. ==Contents==

NGC 5253 contains a giant dust cloud hiding a cluster (believed to be a super star cluster) of more than one million stars, among them up to 7,000 O-type stars. The cluster is 3 million years old and has a total luminosity of more than one billion suns. It is the site of efficient star formation, with a rate at least 10 times higher than comparable regions in the Milky Way. ==Image gallery==

File:Channelling light from starbursts (potw2426a).jpg|NGC 5253 imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope File:NGC 5253 (ACS-HRC) (potw2426b).jpg|The nucleus of NGC 5253 imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope ==References==