NGC 2976
Sign in to saveAlso known as New General Catalogue 2976
spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major
Astronomical data · SIMBAD
- Object type
- GiG
- Redshift
- z = 0.000010006972925635793
- Morphology
- SA
- Coordinates
- RA 146.8144° · Dec 67.9164°
via SIMBAD · CDS Strasbourg
Key facts
- Constellation
- Ursa Major
- Right ascension
- 09 47 15.458
- Declination
- +67 ° 54 ′ 58.97 ″
- Distance
- 11.6 ± 1.2 Mly (3.56 ± 0.38 Mpc )
- Group or cluster
- M81 Group
- Type
- SAa
- Size
- 6 kpc
- Apparent size v
- 5.89 ′ × 3.02 ′
- Notable features
- Peculiar
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
NGC 2976 is a peculiar dwarf galaxy in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. It was discovered by German-born astronomer William Herschel on November 8, 1801, and catalogued as H I.285. J. L. E. Dreyer described it as, "bright, very large, much extended 152°, star involved". It is a member of the M81 Group and lies 1° 20′ to the southwest of Messier 81. The projected separation of this galaxy from the M81 Group is 190 kpc.
The morphological classification of this galaxy is SAa, which matches an unbarred spiral galaxy (SA) with very tightly-wound spiral arms (a). The actual visual form of the galaxy is a pure disk with no spiral arms or bulge. The luminosity and size of this galaxy is mid-way between the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. De Vaucouleurs and associates classed it as type SAc, suggesting more loosely wound arms. It is inclined at an angle of 65° to the line of sight from the Earth.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “NGC 2976” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.