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NGC 3978

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NGC 3978
Sloan Digital Sky Survey image of spiral galaxy NGC 3978 (center) and NGC 3975 (right)
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationUrsa Major
Right ascension11hr 56m 10.320s
Declination+60d 31m 21.11s
Redshift0.033176
Heliocentric radial velocity9,946 km/s
Distance459 Mly (140.7 Mpc)
Apparent magnitude (V)13.4
Characteristics
TypeSABbc, HII, SABbc?
Size227,000 ly (approximately 69.62 kpc)
Apparent size (V)1.29 x 1.16 arcmin
Other designations
PGC 37502, UGC 6910, CGCG 292-047, MCG +10-17-105, 2MASX J11561045+6031300, 2MASS J11561030+6031209, HOLM 306A, IRAS 11535+6047, SDSS J115610.31+603121.1, NVSS J115610+603121, 6C B115332.3+604801, [TTL2012] 088320, NFGS 100, ASK 213392.0, MaNGA 01-617857, LEDA 37502

NGC 3978 is a large intermediate spiral galaxy with a bar[1] located in the constellation of Ursa Major.[2] It is located 460 million light-years away from the Solar System[3] and was discovered by William Herschel on March 19, 1790, but also observed by John Herschel on April 14, 1831.[4]

NGC 3978 has a luminosity class of II-III and it has a broad H II region which contains regions of ionized hydrogen.[3] In addition, it is categorized as a LINER galaxy by SIMBAD,[5] meaning its nucleus presents an emission spectrum which is characterized by broad lines of weakly ionized atoms.[5]

According to Vaucouleurs and Corwin, NGC 3978 and NGC 3975 form a galaxy pair with each other.[6]

Supernovae

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Two supernovae were discovered in NGC 3978: SN 2003cq and SN 2008l.

SN 2003cq

SN 2003cq[7] was discovered on March 30, 2003, by British astronomer Ron Arbour.[8] It was located 32".0 east and 2".3 south of the nucleus with a magnitude of 17.1.[9] This supernova was Type Ia.[7][10]

SN 2008I

SN 2008I was discovered by astronomers P. Thrasher, W. Li, and A. V. Filippenko as part of Lick Observatory Supernova Search (LOSS) on January 2, 2008.[11] It was located 3".7 west and 10."4 north of the nucleus with magnitude of 19.1.[12] The supernova was Type II[13] which possibly resulted from a collapse of a massive star.[14]

References

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  1. ^ "HyperLeda -object description". atlas.obs-hp.fr. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  2. ^ "NGC 3978". spider.seds.org. Retrieved 2024-05-10.
  3. ^ a b "Your NED Search Results". ned.ipac.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  4. ^ "New General Catalog Objects: NGC 3950 - 3999". cseligman.com. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  5. ^ a b "NGC 3978 - LINER-type Active Galaxy Nucleus". simbad.u-strasbg.fr. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  6. ^ de Vaucouleurs, G.; de Vaucouleurs, A.; Corwin, H. G., Jr. (1976-01-01). Second reference catalogue of bright galaxies. Containing information on 4,364 galaxies with references to papers published between 1964 and 1975. Bibcode:1976srcb.book.....D.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ a b "SN 2003cq | Transient Name Server". www.wis-tns.org. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  8. ^ "Ron Arbour - Supernova hunter and astrophotographer". mstecker.com. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  9. ^ "Bright Supernovae - 2003". www.rochesterastronomy.org. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  10. ^ Pan, Yen-Chen (2020). "High-velocity Type Ia Supernova Has a Unique Host Environment". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 895 (1): L5. arXiv:2004.14544. Bibcode:2020ApJ...895L...5P. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab8e47.
  11. ^ "SN 2008I". w.astro.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  12. ^ "Bright Supernovae - 2008". www.rochesterastronomy.org. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  13. ^ "SN 2008I | Transient Name Server". www.wis-tns.org. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  14. ^ "Type II Supernovae - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2024-05-06.