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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
Timezone: Europe/London
Sunrise: 6:38 
Transit: 12:54 
Sunset: 19:10
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Other deep sky objects in Leo
All Constellations »  Leo »  Deep Sky Objects » 

NGC 3988 - Elliptical Galaxy in Leo

Below the horizon.  Rise: 4:32 | Tran: 13:14 | Set: 21:57
Alt: -3.49°   Az: 34.37°   Direction: North-East

NGC 3988 is a Elliptical Galaxy in the Leo constellation. NGC 3988 is situated north of the celestial equator and, as such, it is more easily visible from the northern hemisphere. Given its B magnitude of 14.7, NGC 3988 is visible with the help of a telescope having an aperture of 20 inches (500mm) or more.

The image below is a photograph of NGC 3988 from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 0.5000x0.5000 degrees (30.00x30.00 arcmins).

Image of NGC 3988 - Elliptical Galaxy in Leo star
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DSS2 image of NGC 3988 in the Red band. The green region on the image is a representation of the major (0.76 arcmin) and minor (0.59 arcmin) axes of the object's apparent size.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

11h 58m 40s
+27° 44’ 23”
14h 38m 09s
02h 36m 50s

J2000

11h 57m 24s
+27° 52’ 39”

Finder Chart

The simplified sky charts below show the position of NGC 3988 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.

Finder chart NGC 3988 - Elliptical Galaxy in Leo star
Simplified finder chart for NGC 3988 - Elliptical Galaxy in Leo.

Finder chart NGC 3988 - Elliptical Galaxy in Leo star
Simplified finder chart for NGC 3988 - Elliptical Galaxy in Leo.

Photometric Information

The following table lists the magnitude of NGC 3988 in different bands of the electomagnetic spectrum (when available), from the B band (445nm wavelength, corresponding to the Blue color), to the V band ( 551nm wavelength, corresponding to Green/Yellow color), to the J, H, K bands (corresponding to 1220nm, 1630nm, 2190nm wavelengths respectively, which are colors not visible to the human eye).

14.7
11.45
10.73
10.46

For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.

The surface brightess reported below is an indication of the brightness per unit of angular area of NGC 3988.

22.99 mag/arcsec2

Apparent Size

The following table reports NGC 3988 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of NGC 3988 is a visual representation of it.
0.76 arcmin
0.59 arcmin
50°

Morphological Classification

NGC 3988 - Elliptical Galaxy in Leo is classified as Elliptical (E) according to the Hubble and de Vaucouleurs galaxy morphological classification. The diagram below shows a visual representation of the position of NGC 3988 - Elliptical Galaxy in Leo in the Hubble de Vaucouleurs sequence.

NGC 3988 - Elliptical Galaxy in Leo
Visualization of the morphological classification of NGC 3988 - Elliptical Galaxy in Leo, Elliptical (E).
Credits for the background image: Antonio Ciccolella / M. De Leo / CC BY

Rise and Set Times

Location: Greenwich, UK
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London

Today's NGC 3988 - Elliptical Galaxy in Leo rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, UK are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 62.3°
Max altitude: 66.3°
Azimuth: 297.7°