April 17, 2020

NGC 3953 (April 2020)


OK, so this is a galaxy just southeast of the Big Dipper's bowl.  It looks a lot like M109 and might actually be the galaxy discovered that we now call M109 (whose position was disputed for a long time).  NGC 3953 is a lovely spiral about 61 million light years away.

The image is a time machine looking back into the past.  Find the following beginning at NGC 3953 in the center:

Two galaxy lengths down and left, PGC 37256. No idea how far this one---perhaps it is near NGC 3953.

Above and a little left of NGC 3953, PGC 213900, mag 16.76, 710 million light years.

Below and a little right, PGC 2412642, mag 16.58, 710 million light years.

Immediately left of the galaxy, the small, horizontal "seed" shape, PGC 213899, mag 17.84, 340 million light years.

Below the galaxy, nearly at the bottom of the frame, PGC 2411483, mag 17.30, 970 million light years.

Directly far left of NGC 3953, elliptical, PGC 2407838, mag 17.85, 1.4 billion light years.

In the upper left corner, there are three galaxies.  Beginning at lower left, PGC 2406768, mag 16.69, 1.2 billion light years. Directly above that, PGC 2406922, mag 18.26, 1.2 billion light years. To the right and above that, PGC 2408846, mag 17.87, 1.6 billion light years.

In the bottom right, 1 galaxy length in from the bottom and 1 from the right, PGC 2415838, mag 17.96, 1.7 billion light years.

This image is 49x360" through a light pollution filter.


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