NGC 5251 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation of Boötes. Its velocity with respect to the cosmic microwave background is 11202 ± 17 km/s, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of 165.22 ± 11.57 Mpc (~539 million light-years). It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on 11 April 1785.
The SIMBAD database lists NGC 5251 as a LINER galaxy, i.e. a galaxy whose nucleus has an emission spectrum characterized by broad lines of weakly ionized atoms.
Supernova
One supernova has been observed in NGC 5251.
SN 2024bci (Type Ia, mag. 18.77) was discovered by the GOTO telescope array on 24 January 2024.