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
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 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

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  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.