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Galaxy · Barred spiral

NGC 3690 NED01

NGC 3690 NED01 is a galaxy in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major, 142.8 million light-years away.

TypeBarred spiral
ConstellationUrsa Major
Distance142.8 million light-years (43.77 Mpc)
Diameter117,800 light-years · 1.3 × the Milky Way
Absolute magnitudemagnitude −21.89
Apparent magnitudemagnitude 11.32
Luminosity2.5 × the Milky Way
Right ascension (J2000)11h 28m 31.3s
Declination (J2000)+58° 33′ 42″
Source2MASS Redshift Survey (Huchra et al. 2012)

In the sky

A telescope is needed to see it: its apparent magnitude is 11.32. Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 31° S. North of latitude 31° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in March, the best time to observe it.

Through a telescope from Earth

Light's journey

The light you see tonight set out 143 million years ago. At that time dinosaurs ruled the Earth. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 2,532.4 billion years.

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