NGC 3982
Encyclopedia
NGC 3982 is an intermediate spiral galaxy
approximately 68 million
light-year
s away in the constellation
Ursa Major
. It is also known as UGC 6918. It was discovered by William Herschel
on April 14, 1789 and misclassified as planetary nebula. NGC 3982 is a part of the M109 Group.
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.
galaxy. The galaxy is receding from us at about 1109 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. Supernovae are likely to be found within these regions.
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.
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
.
) reached earth and was discovered by British amateur astronomer Mark Armstrong. It was discovered when it had an apparent magnitude of 14.9 and it had grown considerably brighter by two days after its initial sighting (it reached a maximum magnitude of 14.0). The explosion resulted from a binary system where 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 explosion roughly occurs in a typical spiral galaxy every 100 years, astronomers use high-resolution images of NGC 3982 and other galaxies to detect stars which are nearing a similar explosive descent into supernovae.
Intermediate spiral galaxy
An intermediate spiral galaxy is a galaxy that is in between the classifications of a barred spiral galaxy and an unbarred spiral galaxy. It is designated as SAB in the galaxy morphological classification scheme.-Grades:...
approximately 68 million
1 E23 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude, this page lists distances starting at 100 Zm .Distances shorter than 100 Zm* 140 Zm — 15 million light years — Distance to Centaurus A galaxy...
light-year
Light-year
A light-year, also light year or lightyear is a unit of length, equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres...
s away in the constellation
Constellation
In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....
Ursa Major
Ursa Major
Ursa Major , also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. It can best be seen in April...
. It is also known as UGC 6918. It was discovered by William Herschel
William Herschel
Sir Frederick William Herschel, KH, FRS, German: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was a German-born British astronomer, technical expert, and composer. Born in Hanover, Wilhelm first followed his father into the Military Band of Hanover, but emigrated to Britain at age 19...
on April 14, 1789 and misclassified as planetary nebula. NGC 3982 is a part of the M109 Group.
At an apparent magnitude
Apparent magnitude
The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...
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 WayMilky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
galaxy. The galaxy is receding from us at about 1109 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. Supernovae are likely to be found within these regions.
Star formation
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 HSTHubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle in 1990 and remains in operation. A 2.4 meter aperture telescope in low Earth orbit, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared...
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.
Galaxy group information
NGC 3982 is a member of the M109 Group, a group of galaxiesGalaxy groups and clusters
Galaxy groups and clusters are the largest known gravitationally bound objects to have arisen thus far in the process of cosmic structure formation. They form the densest part of the large scale structure of the universe...
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
Spiral galaxy
A spiral galaxy is a certain kind of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work The Realm of the Nebulae and, as such, forms part of the Hubble sequence. Spiral galaxies consist of a flat, rotating disk containing stars, gas and dust, and a central concentration of stars known as...
M109
Messier 109
Messier 109 is a barred spiral galaxy approximately away in the constellation Ursa Major. M109 can be seen southeast of the star Phecda .-History:Messier 109 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781...
.
Interest
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: a stellar explosion, or supernova; and Cepheid variable stars.Supernova 1998aq
In 1998, the light from a supernova in NGC 3982 (later called SN 1998aqSN 1998aq
SN 1998aq is a supernova located in galaxy NGC 3982. It was discovered in 1998 by amateur astronomer Mark Armstrong.-External Links:*...
) reached earth and was discovered by British amateur astronomer Mark Armstrong. It was discovered when it had an apparent magnitude of 14.9 and it had grown considerably brighter by two days after its initial sighting (it reached a maximum magnitude of 14.0). The explosion resulted from a binary system where 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 explosion roughly occurs in a typical spiral galaxy every 100 years, astronomers use high-resolution images of NGC 3982 and other galaxies to detect stars which are nearing a similar explosive descent into supernovae.
External links
- Spiral Galaxy NGC 3982 @ SEDS NGC objects pages
- The Distance to Supernova 1998aq in NGC3982 ArxivArXivThe arXiv |Chi]], χ) is an archive for electronic preprints of scientific papers in the fields of mathematics, physics, astronomy, computer science, quantitative biology, statistics, and quantitative finance which can be accessed online. In many fields of mathematics and physics, almost all...
, 2001 - NGC 3982 at ESA/Hubble
- Circumnuclear Star Forming Activity in NGC 3982