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NGC 3990 — Galaxy in Ursa Major

Galaxy Fair (29/100)

Elliptical

Magnitude 12.6m Galaxy Ursa Major (UMa) Visible
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1Properties

Magnitude 12.6
Angular Size 1.4′ × 0.8′
Position Angle 42°
Distance 32.90 million ly
Galaxy Type Elliptical (E-S0)
pF, S, lE, pslbM

Position & Identifiers

RA 11h 57m 36.0s
Dec +55° 28' 00.0"
Constellation Ursa Major (UMa)
Catalog NGC 3990

2How easy to spot?

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Telescope Bortle 3 Bortle 4 Bortle 5
80mm refr. Hard Hard V. hard+
150mm Newt. Medium Hard+ Hard
C8 203mm Medium+ Medium Hard+
Easy Medium Hard Very hard Impossible

Bortle 3 = rural · 4 = outer suburbs · 5 = suburbs

Medium on Seestar S50

3Visibility

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Best season Feb – Apr (peak: Mar)

4 Eyepiece View

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125x TFOV: 0.4° Lim. mag: 13.6
N E

NGC 3990 · 1.4′×0.8′ · N up, E left

5 Best Magnification

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6 Surface Brightness

7 Morphology Decoder

8 Inclination & True Shape

9 Redshift

10 Size Comparator

Discover

11

Light Travel Time Machine

12

Relativistic Travel

Nearby in the Sky

Other targets within a few degrees — pan your scope a little and keep exploring.

Visibility scores assume a 150 mm Newton at Bortle 4.

NGC 3998
Easy
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 10.6 0.0° Ursa Major
NGC 3982
Hard+
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 12.0 0.4° Ursa Major
NGC 3898
Medium+
Bright spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 10.8 1.3° Ursa Major
Z UMa
Easy
Mira-type variable, range 6.2–9.7
Variable Star mag 6.20 2.4° Ursa Major
NGC 4194
Hard+
Barred spiral galaxy
Galaxy mag 12.4 2.6° Ursa Major
M97
Owl Nebula
Hard+
Planetary nebula — try an OIII filter
Planetary Nebula mag 9.9 6.1° Ursa Major
Show on Map

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