NGC 3726 explained

NGC 3726
Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech
Epoch:J2000
Type:SAB(r)c [1]
Dist Ly:46.6 ± 11.2 Mly (14.3 ± 3.4 Mpc)
Z:866 ± 1 km/s
Appmag V:10.2
Size V:6.2 × 4.3
Constellation Name:Ursa Major
Names:UGC 6537, MCG +08-21-051, PGC 35676

NGC 3726 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. It is located at a distance of circa 45 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 3726 is about 85,000 light years across. It was discovered by William Herschel on February 5, 1788.[2]

Structure

NGC 3726 is a spiral galaxy with a small bar, seen with medium inclination.[3] The bar is 1.38 arcseconds across and it ends at an inner ring with 1.50 arcseconds diameter.[4] The bluest regions of star formation are located at the ring.[5]

Three arms emanate from the ring. The southern is the brightest and the north is the best defined. The third arm emanates from the east side of the ring, moves towards NNW and then bends sharply to the southwest.[6] The spiral arms are thick and well defined and can be traced for half a revolution. The arms then branch into fragments. The spiral pattern of the galaxy is a bit disturbed and asymmetrical.[6] Numerous bright HII regions are present in the galaxy. The galaxy has a massive dark matter halo.[5]

The nucleus of the galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole with mass 106.5 (3 million), based on Ks bulge luminosity.[7]

Nearby galaxies

NGC 3726 belongs in the NGC 3877 group,[8] which is part of the south Ursa Major groups, part of the Virgo Supercluster.[9] Other galaxies in the same group are NGC 3893, NGC 3896, NGC 3906, NGC 3928, NGC 3949, NGC 3985, and NGC 4010.[8] It may be also kinematically related with the smaller galaxies NGC 3769 and NGC 3782, located at angular distances 68' and 69' respectively.[10]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database . Results for NGC 3726 . 2016-01-18 .
  2. http://cseligman.com/text/atlas/ngc37.htm#3726 NGC 3726
  3. Möllenhoff. C.. Heidt. J.. Surface photometry of spiral galaxies in NIR:Structural parameters of disks and bulges. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 15 March 2001. 368. 1. 16–37. 10.1051/0004-6361:20000335. 2001A&A...368...16M. free.
  4. Comerón. S.. Salo. H.. Laurikainen. E.. Knapen. J. H.. Buta. R. J.. Herrera-Endoqui. M.. Laine. J.. Holwerda. B. W.. Sheth. K.. Regan. M. W.. Hinz. J. L.. Muñoz-Mateos. J. C.. Gil de Paz. A.. Menéndez-Delmestre. K.. Seibert. M.. Mizusawa. T.. Kim. T.. Erroz-Ferrer. S.. Gadotti. D. A.. Athanassoula. E.. Lia Athanassoula. Bosma. A.. Ho. L. C.. ARRAKIS: atlas of resonance rings as known in the S4G. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 19 February 2014. 562. A121. 10.1051/0004-6361/201321633. 1312.0866. 2014A&A...562A.121C. 119295831.
  5. Gusev. A. S.. Zasov. A. V.. Kaisin. S. S.. Bizyaev. D. V.. BVRI surface photometry of the galaxy NGC 3726. Astronomy Reports. September 2002. 46. 9. 704–711. 10.1134/1.1508062. 2002ARep...46..704G. 120372767.
  6. Eskridge. Paul B.. Frogel. Jay A.. Pogge. Richard W.. Quillen. Alice C.. Berlind. Andreas A.. Davies. Roger L.. DePoy. D. L.. Gilbert. Karoline M.. Houdashelt. Mark L.. Kuchinski. Leslie E.. Ramirez. Solange V.. Sellgren. K.. Stutz. Amelia. Terndrup. Donald M.. Tiede. Glenn P.. Near-Infrared and Optical Morphology of Spiral Galaxies. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. November 2002. 143. 1. 73–111. 10.1086/342340. astro-ph/0206320. 2002ApJS..143...73E. 15491635.
  7. Dong. X. Y.. De Robertis. M. M.. Low-Luminosity Active Galaxies and Their Central Black Holes. The Astronomical Journal. March 2006. 131. 3. 1236–1252. 10.1086/499334. astro-ph/0510694. 2006AJ....131.1236D. 17630682.
  8. Makarov. Dmitry. Karachentsev. Igor. Galaxy groups and clouds in the local (z~ 0.01) Universe. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 21 April 2011. 412. 4. 2498–2520. 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.18071.x. 2011MNRAS.412.2498M. 1011.6277. 119194025. 18 October 2017. 31 January 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160131020344/http://www.sao.ru/hq/dim/groups/galaxies.dat. dead.
  9. Web site: The Ursa Major Groups. www.atlasoftheuniverse.com.
  10. Sandage, A., Bedke, J. (1994) The Carnegie Atlas of Galaxies. Volume I, Carnegie Institution of Washington