NGC 3193 is an

elliptical galaxy An elliptical galaxy is a type of galaxy with an approximately ellipsoidal shape and a smooth, nearly featureless image. They are one of the three main galaxy morphological classification, classes of galaxy described by Edwin Hubble in his Hub ...

in the constellation

Leo Leo is the Latin word for lion. It most often refers to: * Leo (constellation), a constellation of stars in the night sky * Leo (astrology), an astrological sign of the zodiac * Leo (given name), a given name in several languages, usually mas ...

. The galaxy lies about 90 million

light years A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astro ...

away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that NGC 3193 is approximately 80,000 light years across. It was discovered by

William Herschel Frederick William Herschel ( ; ; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel. Born in the Electorate of Hanover ...

on March 12, 1784. N3190s

NGC 3193 lies at the north-east edge of the galaxy compact group HCG 44, which also includes the spiral galaxies NGC 3185, NGC 3187 and NGC 3190. HCG 44 is considered to be part of a larger

galaxy group A galaxy group or group of galaxies (GrG) is an aggregation of galaxies comprising about 50 or fewer gravitationally bound members, each at least as luminous as the Milky Way (about 1010 times the luminosity of the Sun); collections of galaxi ...

known as LGG 194, which also includes the galaxies NGC 3162, NGC 3177, NGC 3213, NGC 3226,

NGC 3227 NGC 3227 is an intermediate spiral galaxy that is interacting with the dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 3226. The two galaxies are one of several examples of a spiral with a dwarf elliptical companion that are listed in the ''Atlas of Peculiar Galax ...

, NGC 3287, and NGC 3301. It is a member of the

Leo II Groups The Leo II Groups, Leo II Cloud, or simply the Leo Cloud is a galaxy filament consisting of at least 18 galaxy groups. It is located approximately 86 Mly (26 Mpc) from the Solar System. The Leo Cloud in supergalactic SGY coordinates is physica ...

, part of the

Virgo Supercluster The Local Supercluster (LSC or LS), or Virgo Supercluster is a formerly defined supercluster containing the Virgo Cluster and Local Group, which itself contains the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, as well as others. At least 100 galaxy group ...

. NGC 3193 has similar radial velocity with NGC 3187 and NGC 3190, however redshift independent distances put NGC 3193 at a greater distance than the rest of the group, although these measurements have large error margins. A long tail of

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

has been found north of NGC 3193 and two smaller hydrogen clouds lie southeast of the galaxy. A

dwarf spheroidal galaxy A dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) is a term in astronomy applied to small, low-luminosity galaxies with very little dust and an older stellar population. They are found in the Local Group as companions to the Milky Way and as systems that are c ...

has been detected in the halo of NGC 3193.

References

External links

{{Leo (constellation) Elliptical galaxies Leo (constellation) 3193 05562 316C 30099 Discoveries by William Herschel Astronomical objects discovered in 1784