NGC 3982

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NGC 3982
NGC 3982 galaxy hubble.jpg
NGC 3982 as taken by the Hubble Space Telescope
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Ursa Major
Right ascension 11h 56m 28.1s [1]
Declination +55° 07′ 31″ [1]
Redshift 1109 ± 6 km/s [1]
Distance 67.8 ± 2.5  Mly (20.80 ± 0.77  Mpc) [2]
70.38 ± 0.23 Mly (21.58 ± 0.07 Mpc) [3]
Group or cluster M109 Group
Apparent magnitude  (V)12.0 [1]
Characteristics
Type SAB(r)b [1]
Apparent size  (V)1.7′ × 1.5′ [1]
Other designations
UGC 6918, [1] PGC 37520 [1]

NGC 3982(also known as UGC 6918) is an intermediate spiral galaxy approximately 68 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by William Herschel on April 14, 1789, and misclassified as a planetary nebula. [4] NGC 3982 is a part of the M109 Group.

Contents

At an apparent magnitude of 12.0, NGC 3982 needs a telescope to be viewed. Using small telescopes, the galaxy appears as a very faint, diffuse patch of light, with its central region appearing as a slightly brighter diffuse ball.

General

NGC 3982 is a Seyfert 2 galaxy that spans about 30,000 light-years, about one-third of the size of our Milky Way galaxy. The galaxy is receding from us at about 1,109 km/s. The galaxy is a typical spiral galaxy, similar to our Milky Way. It harbors a supermassive black hole at its core and has massive regions of star formation in the bright blue knots in the spiral arms. [5] Supernovae are likely to be found within these regions.

NGC 3982 has a high rate of star birth within its arms, which are lined by pink star-forming regions of glowing hydrogen and newborn blue star clusters. Its bright nucleus is home to older populations of stars, which grow more densely packed toward the center. The galaxy also has active star formation in the circumnuclear region, estimated at 0.52 M☉/year. The HST image of NGC 3982 shows a mini-spiral between the circumnuclear star-forming region and the galaxy's nucleus, which could be the channel through which gas is transported to the supermassive black hole from the star-forming region.

NGC 3982 is a member of the M109 Group, a group of galaxies located in the constellation Ursa Major that may contain over 50 galaxies. The group was named after the brightest galaxy in the group, the spiral galaxy M109. [6] [7] [8]

Astronomers are interested in studying this galaxy as it can help in measuring extragalactic distances. It is helpful because it possesses two tools used to estimate astronomical distances: supernovae and Cepheid variable stars.

Supernova 1998aq

In 1998, the light from a supernova in NGC 3982 (later called SN 1998aq ) reached Earth and was discovered by British amateur astronomer Mark Armstrong. It was discovered when it had apparent magnitude 14.9, and had grown considerably brighter by two days after its initial sighting (it reached maximum magnitude 14.0).

The supernova explosion resulted from a binary system in which a white dwarf star was capturing mass from its companion star. When the white dwarf had gathered enough mass and was no longer able to support itself, the star detonated in a violent and extremely bright explosion.

Since a supernova occurs in a typical spiral galaxy (roughly) once every 100 years, astronomers have software continuously monitor high-resolution automatic survey camera images of galaxies like NGC 3982, for early detection of supernova explosions.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 81</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 106</span> Galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3184</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 6946</span> Galaxy in the constellations Cepheus & Cygnus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4725</span> Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

NGC 4725 is an intermediate barred spiral galaxy with a prominent ring structure, located in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices near the north galactic pole. It was discovered by German-born astronomer William Herschel on April 6, 1785. The galaxy lies at a distance of approximately 40 megalight-years from the Milky Way. NGC 4725 is the brightest member of the Coma I Group of the Coma-Sculptor Cloud, although it is relatively isolated from the other members of this group. This galaxy is strongly disturbed and is interacting with neighboring spiral galaxy NGC 4747, with its spiral arms showing indications of warping. The pair have an angular separation of 24′, which corresponds to a projected linear separation of 370 kly. A tidal plume extends from NGC 4747 toward NGC 4725.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 1309</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Eridanus

NGC 1309 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 120 million light-years away, appearing in the constellation Eridanus. It is about 75,000 light-years across, and is about 3/4s the width of the Milky Way. Its shape is classified as SA(s)bc, meaning that it has moderately wound spiral arms and no ring. Bright blue areas of star formation can be seen in the spiral arms, while the yellowish central nucleus contains older-population stars. NGC 1309 is one of over 200 members of the Eridanus Group of galaxies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4261</span> Galaxy in the constellation Virgo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4639</span> Galaxy in the constellation Virgo

NGC 4639 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the equatorial constellation of Virgo. It was discovered by German-born astronomer William Herschel on April 12, 1784. John L. E. Dreyer described it as "pretty bright, small, extended, mottled but not resolved, 12th magnitude star 1 arcmin to southeast". This is a relatively nearby galaxy, lying approximately 72 million light-years away from the Milky Way. It is a companion to NGC 4654, and the two appear to have interacted roughly 500 million years ago. NGC 4639 is a member of the Virgo Cluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 7424</span> Galaxy in the constellation Grus

NGC 7424 is a barred spiral galaxy located 37.5 million light-years away in the southern constellation Grus. Its size makes it similar to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. It is called a "grand design" galaxy because of its well defined spiral arms. Two supernovae and two ultraluminous X-ray sources have been discovered in NGC 7424.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SN 1998aq</span>

SN 1998aq is a nearby supernova located in the intermediate spiral galaxy NGC 3982, offset 18″ west and 7″ of the galactic nucleus. It was discovered April 13, 1998 by amateur astronomer Mark Armstrong and was confirmed by fellow British amateur Ron Arbour; both members of the U.K. Supernova/Nova Patrol. The event was not visible on a prior check by Armstrong made April 7. It reached peak brightness on April 27, and 15 days later had declined by 1.14 magnitudes in the B (blue) band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3938</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

NGC 3938 is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the Ursa Major constellation. It was discovered on 6 February 1788 by William Herschel. It is one of the brightest spiral galaxies in the Ursa Major South galaxy group and is roughly 67,000 light years in diameter. It is approximately 43 million light years away from Earth. NGC 3938 is classified as type Sc under the Hubble sequence, a loosely wound spiral galaxy with a smaller and dimmer bulge. The spiral arms of the galaxy contain many areas of ionized atomic hydrogen gas, more so towards the center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 5643</span> Galaxy in the constellation Lupus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3631</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

NGC 3631 is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. It is located at a distance of about 35 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 3631 is about 60,000 light years across. It was discovered by William Herschel on April 14, 1789. It is a grand design spiral galaxy seen face on.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 7469</span> Galaxy located in the constellation Pegasus

NGC 7469 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation of Pegasus. NGC 7469 is located about 200 million light-years away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that NGC 7469 is approximately 90,000 light-years across. It was discovered by William Herschel on November 12, 1784.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 6951</span> Galaxy in the constellation Cepheus

NGC 6951 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Cepheus. It is located at a distance of about 75 million light-years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 6951 is about 100,000 light-years across. It was discovered by Jérôme Eugène Coggia in 1877 and independently by Lewis Swift in 1878.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 3982. Retrieved 2006-11-16.
  2. ↑ Riess, Adam G.; Li, Weidong; Stetson, Peter B.; Filippenko, Alexei V.; et al. (2005). "Cepheid Calibrations from the Hubble Space Telescope of the Luminosity of Two Recent Type Ia Supernovae and a Redetermination of the Hubble Constant". Astrophysical Journal . 627 (2): 579–607. arXiv: astro-ph/0503159 . Bibcode:2005ApJ...627..579R. doi:10.1086/430497. S2CID   7590029.
  3. ↑ Tully, R. Brent; et al. (October 2013). "Cosmicflows-2: The Data". The Astronomical Journal. 146 (4): 25. arXiv: 1307.7213 . Bibcode:2013AJ....146...86T. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/146/4/86. S2CID   118494842. 86.
  4. ↑ NGC 3982. Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. Retrieved March 3, 2009
  5. ↑ Zhang, Shui-Nai; Gu, Qiu-Sheng; Wang, Yi-Peng (2008). "Circumnuclear star forming activity in NGC 3982". Chinese Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics . 8 (5): 555. Bibcode:2008ChJAA...8..555Z. doi: 10.1088/1009-9271/8/5/06 .
  6. ↑ Tully, R.B. (1988). Nearby Galaxies Catalog. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-35299-4.
  7. ↑ Fouque, P.; Gourgoulhon, E.; Chamaraux, P.; Paturel, G. (1992). "Groups of galaxies within 80 Mpc. II - The catalogue of groups and group members". Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series . 93 (2): 211–233. Bibcode:1992A&AS...93..211F.
  8. ↑ Giuricin, G.; Marinoni, C.; Ceriani, L.; Pisani, A. (2000). "Nearby optical galaxies: Selection of the sample and identification of groups". Astrophysical Journal . 543 (1): 178–194. arXiv: astro-ph/0001140 . Bibcode:2000ApJ...543..178G. doi:10.1086/317070. S2CID   9618325.


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