53 Interesting Facts About The Number 53 #8: NGC 53 is a barred spiral galaxy LLAP

Farewell, Leonard Nimoy. You inspired us to always keep reaching for the final frontier. #RIPNimoypic.twitter.com/P7KkDGBehd

— Intel (@intel) February 27, 2015

Each Sunday in 2015 I post an interesting fact about the number 53. As the first Sunday in April follows an eclipse and the first Sunday in May is a full moon, and today is the first Sunday in March, I thought I’d do something astronomical for this week’s “Interesting Fact About The Number 53.”

Plus I’d like to recognize Leonard Nimoy who died on Friday, February 27, just one month shy of his 84 birthday. As the daughter of hard core science fiction buffs and Trekkies, my earliest memories of TV are hearing the Star Trek theme music after I was sent to bed, then creeping down the hall to listen and maybe see while my parents watched. (Keep scrolling for two music videos with Leonard Nimoy that you may have missed plus three clips from the TV comedy The Big Bang Theory).

53 Interesting Facts About The Number 53 #8: NGC 53  is a barred spiral galaxy with a ring in the constellation Tucana two hundred million light years away. ,  John Herschel discovered NGC 53 on September 15 1836. 

Hershel described NGC 53 as “very faint, small, extended” galaxy approximately 120,000 light-years across which makes is about the same size as our Milky Way. So while it seems fuzzy and small, it’s actually really really big and super far away. At this point, I haven’t found too much more about it or any better photos (these showed up on a few sites). Here’s the Wikisky entry on NGC 53.

http://astrob.in/154470/0/

Many were fans of Leonard Nimoy aka Dr. Spock

including President Obama:

RIP Leonard Nimoy.

May we all live long and prosper (LLAP) and have a good time as we venture out to the final frontier –and maybe all the way to NGC 53 which is 200, 000 light years from 53rd and 3rd and certainly more than 53 miles west of Venus…

NOTE:

Video #1 is an excerpt of a Bruno Mars video which features Leonard Nimoy
In Video #2, Leonard Nimoy is a chauffeur for the Bangles music video “Going Down to Liverpool.”
Videos #3 and #4 are also from The Big Bang Theory.

And if you’re really missing Spock, you can change your regular game of “Rock Paper Scissors” to “Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock” or at least get a laugh by watching this clip:

And because it’s just too funny, here’s Leonard Nimoy voicing “Tiny Spock” on The Big Bang Theory: