Jump to content

NGC 3950

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NGC 3950
SDSS image of NGC 3950 and NGC 3949
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationUrsa Major
Right ascension11h 53m 41.41s
Declination+47d 53m 04.46s
Redshift0.074602
Heliocentric radial velocity22,365 km/s
Distance1.030 Gly (315 Mpc)
Apparent magnitude (V)15.7
Apparent magnitude (B)16.7
Surface brightness13.2
Characteristics
TypeE, 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[edit]

  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. ^ a b "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.