NGC 3115

Lenticular (S0) Galaxy NGC 3115 (= H I.163 = Bennett 42), type S0_1, in Sextans

Spindle Galaxy

[NGC 3115, M. Purcell]
Right Ascension 10 : 05.2 (h:m)
Declination -07 : 43 (deg:m)
Distance 30000.0 (kly)
Visual Brightness 9.2 (mag)
Apparent Dimension 8.3 x 3.2 (arc min)

Discovered by William Herschel in 1787.

This is a bright lenticular galaxy, i.e. a disk galaxy without significant spiral structure. NGC 3115 is seen almost exactly edge-on. As may be guessed from its appearance, it was occasionally mis-classified as elliptical. It was discovered by William Herschel in the 1780s.

Our image was obtained by Michael Purcell.

One supernova has been discovered in NGC 3115 so far, supernova 1935B by Samaha. It occurred in April 1935, about 36"W and 60"N the nucleus of NGC 3115 (contrary to Burnham's statement that none of them had occurred to the time of his writing in mid-1970s).

In the SAC 110 best NGC object list. No. 49 in the RASC Finest NGC Objects list. Caldwell 53 in Patrick Moore's List.

  • NED data of NGC 3115
  • SIMBAD Data of NGC 3115
  • Observing Reports for NGC 3115 (IAAC Netastrocatalog)

    Hartmut Frommert (spider@seds.org)
    Christine Kronberg (smil@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)

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    Last Modification: 29 Mar 1998, 12:50 MET