NGC 3052 is a lenticular galaxy (morphological type S0) listed in the New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (NGC). It is situated in the constellation Cetus. According to the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), its equatorial coordinates (J2000 epoch) are approximately RA 09ʰ 58ᵐ 27.6ˢ, Dec −18° 27′ 15″.
The galaxy has an apparent visual magnitude of about 13.5, making it observable only with moderate to large amateur telescopes under good sky conditions. Its angular dimensions are roughly 0.9′ × 0.5′, corresponding to a physical size of several tens of kiloparsecs, depending on its distance estimate. Redshift measurements place NGC 3052 at a recessional velocity of approximately 5,700 km s⁻¹, which translates to a comoving distance of roughly 80 Mpc (≈260 million light‑years) under standard cosmological parameters.
NGC 3052 was discovered by the British astronomer John Herschel on 24 September 1835 during his survey of the southern sky from the Cape of Good Hope. It has been cataloged in several astronomical databases, including the Principal Galaxies Catalogue (PGC 28627) and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS).
No notable peculiarities such as active galactic nucleus activity, strong star‑forming regions, or prominent interaction features have been reported for NGC 3052; it is generally considered a typical, relatively quiescent lenticular system.
References
- NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED).
- New General Catalogue (NGC) – original compilation by J. L. E. Dreyer (1888).
- Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging data.