File:NGC_3079.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
NGC 3079
Sign in to saveAlso known as New General Catalogue 3079
barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major
Key facts
- Constellation
- Ursa Major
- Right ascension
- 10 01 57.9268
- Declination
- +55 ° 40 ′ 46.926 ″
- Redshift
- 1116 ± 1 km/ s
- Distance
- 50 Mly
- Group or cluster
- NGC 3079 Group (LGG 188)
- Type
- SB(s)c
- Size
- ~135,600 ly (41.58 kpc ) (estimated)
- Apparent size v
- 7.9 ′ × 1.4 ′
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- spiral galaxy
- Constellation
- Ursa Major
- Distance from Earth
- 19.4
- Image
- NGC 3079.jpg
Show 11 more facts
- Commons category
- NGC 3079
- galaxy morphological type
- SBc
- catalog code
- GB6 B0958+5555
- discoverer or inventor
- William Herschel
- time of discovery or invention
- 1790-04-01
- apparent magnitude
- 11.492
- right ascension
- 150.490847583
- declination
- 55.679789667
- radial velocity
- 1127
- redshift
- 0.003766
- epoch
- J2000.0
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
NGC 3079 is a barred spiral galaxy about 50 million light-years away, and located in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on 1 April 1790.
The SIMBAD database lists NGC 3079 as a Seyfert II Galaxy, i.e. it has a quasar-like nucleus with very high surface brightnesses whose spectra reveal strong, high-ionisation emission lines, but unlike quasars, the host galaxy is clearly detectable.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “NGC 3079” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.