|
NGC 3978
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] SupernovaeTwo 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
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
