NGC 5068 is a face-on field barred spiral galaxy in the Virgo constellation. NGC 5068 is located approximately 22 million light-years away and has a diameter that exceeds 45000 light-years. It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on 10 March 1785.
Although no supernovae have been observed in NGC 5068 yet, a luminous red nova, designated AT2020hat (type LRN, mag. 17.8), was discovered by ATLAS on 12 April 2020.