Located at a distance of circa 85 million light-years from Earth, the galaxy called NGC 5861 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in constellation Libra.
Recently, NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured an eye-catching view of NGC 5861. It also sees two supernovae, SN1971D and SN2017erp.
Usually, galaxies have been classified by their morphology. For example, the Milky Way galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy. An intermediate spiral galaxy has a shape lying in between that of a barred spiral galaxy (one that appears to have a central bar-shaped structure) and that of an unbarred spiral galaxy (one without a central bar).
Observations by Hubble Space Telescope indicate that possibly there is a light echo created by SN 1971D.
NGC 5861 is the foremost member of a small galaxy group that also includes NGC 5858, an Elliptical Galaxy in the Libra constellation.
