M109 (NGC 3992) — Sbc in Ursa Major
Sbc in Ursa Major, 7.1 arcminutes across, its light 50 million years old. Measured by HyperLEDA, photographed by Pan-STARRS1. Recorded once.
About M109 (NGC 3992)
Messier 109 is a barred spiral in Ursa Major, close in the sky to the bright star Phecda in the Big Dipper's bowl. It is the brightest galaxy of its own group, and its bar crosses straight through its centre, much like the bar astronomers now know lies at the heart of the Milky Way.
What you are looking at
M109 is a spiral of the same broad class astronomers give the Milky Way: a moderate bulge and clearly drawn arms. It is tilted about 47° to our line of sight, enough to show both the shape of its arms and the depth of its disc. From edge to edge its visible disc spans about 103,000 light-years (taking its redshift distance, which for a galaxy this near is approximate), close to the width of the Milky Way.
What astronomers have recorded
SIMBAD, the reference database astronomers use, classes it as a member of a group of galaxies. One supernova has been recorded in it: SN 1956A. It is cited in 485 scientific papers indexed by SIMBAD, and recorded there under 20 different catalogue designations.
When this light set out
The light that reaches us from M109 today set out about 50 million years ago, when the planet had come through its hottest interval since the dinosaurs. The galaxy is moving away from us at about 1,047 km/s (2.3 million mph), carried by the expansion of the universe. For a galaxy this close, its own motion through space is a large share of that speed, so the distance worked out from it is approximate; distances measured from individual stars in it can differ.
Finding it in the sky
In the sky, M109 sits within the constellation Ursa Major. From most of the United States it never sets: it circles the north celestial pole all year, and stands highest on spring evenings, around April.
Its neighbours
At almost the same distance from us, and so its neighbours in space as well as on the sky: UGC 6969 (0.2° away on the sky, at least 160,000 light-years from it); UGC 6983 (0.7° away on the sky, at least 620,000 light-years from it); NGC 3953 (1.2° away on the sky, at least 1,050,000 light-years from it); UGC 6894 (1.3° away on the sky, at least 1,160,000 light-years from it), and 18 more.
By apparent size it is number 43 of the 12,657 galaxies on the Galaxy Origins register.
Measurements
| Catalogue | PGC 37617 |
|---|---|
| Morphological type | Sbc |
| Angular diameter | 7.06′ |
| Right ascension | 11h57m36.0s |
| Declination | +53°22′28.3″ |
| Constellation | Ursa Major |
| Inclination | 47.4° |
| Light travel time | 50 million years |
| Bar | yes, from the catalogue |
Check every figure above in the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database
What is sold
A print of this galaxy and the record of the calculation, once. When it sells it leaves the register and is not offered again. We assign no names and no ownership — nobody can sell you those.
At 7.1 arcminutes this is a Exceptional galaxy, which is the tier where a real photograph shows clear structure and dust lanes. The tier comes from the measured diameter, not from a price list.
Take this galaxy — $1,290 Browse the Collection