NGC 6261 was discovered on July 13, 1880, by French astronomer Edouard Stephan.[5] The galaxy is described as LINER according to SIMBAD database[1] and presents emission spectrum in its nucleus which is categorized by broad lines of weak ionized atoms.
Supernovae
Two supernovae have been discovered in NGC 6261: SN 2007hu and SN 2008dt.
SN 2007hu[6] was discovered on September 9, 2007, by astronomers Ernesto Guido, A. Sehgal and Tim Puckett.[7] It had a magnitude of 17.7 and was located 1".3 west and 1".4 north of the nucleus. The supernova was Type la.[6]
SN 2008dt[8] was discovered on 30 June, 2008,[9] by astronomers D. Madison, W. Li and A.V. Filippenko at the University of California, Berkeley.[10] It had a magnitude of 17.2 and was located 1".0 east and 5.5" south of the nucleus.[11] The supernova was Type la.[8]
