NGC 2976

Peculiar Spiral Galaxy NGC 2976 (= H I.285), type Scp, in Ursa Major

[n2976.jpg]
Right Ascension 09 : 47.3 (h:m)
Declination +67 : 55 (deg:m)
Distance 12000 (kly)
Visual Brightness 10.85 (mag)
Apparent Dimension 4.9 x 2.5 (arc min)

Discovered by William Herschel in 1801.

NGC 2976 is one of the smaller member galaxies of the M81 group, located about 1deg 20' southwest of M81. It is a peculiar spiral galaxy of type Scp, peculiar because of the chaotic inner structure with many dark lanes and stellar condensations in its disk - sometimes also as Sdp because its spiral arms are difficult to be traced. The bright inner part of this disk appears to have a defined edge. These distortions are results from the gravitational interactions with its neighbors, in particular M81, similar as for M82.

Together with another faint M81 group member, NGC 3077, NGC 2976 was discovered by William Herschel on November 8, 1801, and cataloged as H I.285.

This picture of NGC 2976 was taken with an SBIG ST-4 CCD camera on the 16" telescope of the Univ. of Colorado/Col. Springs. It shows the galaxy NGC 2976 in Ursa Major, up near the Big Dipper. This galaxy is about 11 to 13 million light years away, and a member of the M81 group. The exposure time was 100 seconds and the (full!) moon was out. The image was processed on Amiga 1000 and 3000 computers.

Credit: Chris Wetherill, UCCS (see Picture Gallery).

NGC 2976 is a peculiar spiral galaxy of Hubble type Scp.

  • NED data of NGC 2976
  • SIMBAD Data of NGC 2976
  • Publications on NGC 2976 (NASA ADS)
  • Observing Reports for NGC 2976 (IAAC Netastrocatalog)
  • NGC Online data for NGC 2976

    Hartmut Frommert
    Christine Kronberg
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    Last Modification: March 29, 1998