Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  NGC 3181  ·  NGC 3184
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NGC 3184, a Large Spiral Galaxy, Ruben Barbosa
NGC 3184, a Large Spiral Galaxy
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NGC 3184, a Large Spiral Galaxy

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 3184, a Large Spiral Galaxy, Ruben Barbosa
NGC 3184, a Large Spiral Galaxy
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 3184, a Large Spiral Galaxy

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Description

* Image acquisition by: The Liverpool Telescope.

* Processing: Ruben Barbosa.

* Distance: 40 Mly.

NGC 3184 is a large spiral galaxy with a small nucleus and long sprawling spiral arms. Although NGC 3184 contains hundreds of billions of stars, the blue color of its spiral arms comes mostly from relatively few bright young blue stars. The galaxy is not empty of matter between these spiral arms - the bright stars that highlight the arms were created in huge density waves that circle the center. Visible with a small telescope towards the constellation of Ursa Major, light takes about 40 million years to reach us from NGC 3184, and about 50,000 years just to cross it.

NGC 3184 has two HII regions named NGC 3180 and NGC 3181. NGC 3184 is notable for its high abundance of heavy elements and a supernova that has occurred there recently.

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NGC 3184, a Large Spiral Galaxy, Ruben Barbosa