NGC 3950

Last updated
NGC 3950
NGC3950 - SDSS DR14.jpg
SDSS image of NGC 3950 and NGC 3949
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Ursa Major
Right ascension 11h 53m 41.41s
Declination +47d 53m 04.46s
Redshift 0.074602
Heliocentric radial velocity 22,365 km/s
Distance 1.030 Gly (315 Mpc)
Apparent magnitude  (V)15.7
Apparent magnitude  (B)16.7
Surface brightness 13.2
Characteristics
Type E, E0;cand. dwarf
Apparent size  (V)0.30' x 0.3'
Other designations
PGC 37294, MCG +08-22-030, BTS 051, HOLM 301B

NGC 3950 is an elliptical galaxy of type E, [1] in Ursa Major. Its redshift is 0.074602, [2] meaning NGC 3950 is 1.03 billion light-years or 316 Mpc from Earth, which is within the Hubble distance values. [3] This high redshift makes NGC 3950 one of the furthest New General Catalogue objects. [4]

NGC 3950 has apparent dimensions of 0.30 x 0.3 arcmin, meaning the galaxy is 90,000 light-years across. [5] It was discovered by Lawrence Parsons [6] [7] on April 27, 1875, and he described it as, "extremely faint, 2.6 arcmin north of h 1009". [6]

In a research article published in 1990, [8] NGC 3950 was believed to be a dwarf galaxy, and a close companion of a larger spiral galaxy, NGC 3949. [9] But further research involving measuring its redshift in 2005 showed NGC 3950 is much further away in the background. [10] Together with NGC 3949, they both form an optical galaxy pair called HOLM 301. [11]

References

  1. "HyperLeda -object description". atlas.obs-hp.fr. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  2. "NGC 3950 - galaxy. Description NGC 3950:". kosmoved.ru. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  3. "NED Distance Results for NGC 3950". ned.ipac.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  4. Lowery, Jimi. "Chasing Billion Year Old Light" (PDF).
  5. "Revised NGC Data for NGC 3950". spider.seds.org. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  6. 1 2 "New General Catalog Objects: NGC 3950 - 3999". cseligman.com. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  7. "List of NGC/IC observers". www.klima-luft.de. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  8. Binggeli, B.; Tarenghi, M.; Sandage, A. (1990-02-01). "The abundance and morphological segregation of dwarf galaxies in the field". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 228: 42–60. ISSN   0004-6361.
  9. "Your NED Search Results". ned.ipac.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  10. "Data products: Getting Spectra - SDSS DR4". classic.sdss.org. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  11. Holmberg, Erik (1937-01-01). "A Study of Double and Multiple Galaxies Together with Inquiries into some General Metagalactic Problems". Annals of the Observatory of Lund. 6: 1–173.