astronomy

NGC 3800

NGC 3800 is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand NGC 3800 rather than just read about it. In short: NGC 3800 is an intermediate spiral galaxy located in the constellation Leo. Its speed relative to the cosmic microwave background is 3,653 ± 24 km/s, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of 53.9 ± 3.8 Mpc (~176 million ly).

Key takeaways

NGC 3800 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect NGC 3800 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of NGC 3800 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

NGC 3800 is an intermediate spiral galaxy located in the constellation Leo. Its speed relative to the cosmic microwave background is 3,653 ± 24 km/s, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of 53.9 ± 3.8 Mpc (~176 million ly). NGC 3800 was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel in 1784. NGC 3799 and NGC 3800 are two gravitationally interacting galaxies and appear in Halton Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies under the symbol Arp 83. Halton Arp describes these as an example of galaxies by presenting a bridge of matter between them and having a high surface gloss. The luminosity class of NGC 3800 is II and it has a broad HI line. To date, four non-redshift measurements give a distance of 42.125 ± 1.162 Mpc (~137 million ly), which is well outside the Hubble distance values. Note, however, that it is with the average value of independent measurements, when they exist, that the NASA/IPAC database calculates the diameter of a galaxy and that consequently the diameter of NGC 3800 could be approximately 32.8 kpc (~107,000 ly) if we used the Hubble distance to calculate it.

NGC 3800 group The galaxy NGC 3800 is part of a group of galaxies named after him. The NGC 3800 group has at least 16 members. Other New General Catalog galaxies in this group are NGC 3768, NGC 3790, NGC 3799, NGC 3801, NGC 3802, NGC 3806, NGC 3827 and NGC 3853. Other galaxies in the group are UGC 6631, UGC 6653, UGC 6666, UGC 6794, MCG 3-30-33 and MCG 3-30-38. Abraham Mahtessian also mentions the existence of this group, but only the galaxies NGC 3768, NGC 3790, NGC 3801 and NGC 3827 appear there. The galaxy NGC 3853 appears in Mahtessian's article, but under another entry where it forms a galaxy pair with UGC 6666, designated as 1139+1618 (CGCG 1139.7+1648). Similarly, the galaxies NGC 3799 and NGC 3800 are also listed under another entry in this article as a pair of galaxies. The NASA/IPAC database indicates that NGC 3800 is possibly a field galaxy, that is, it does not belong to a cluster or group and is therefore gravitationally isolated. Scientists have concluded that this is most likely not the case.

See also List of NGC objects (3001–4000) Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies

External links NGC 3800 at SIMBAD

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with NGC 3800

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what NGC 3800 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to NGC 3800 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about NGC 3800 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of NGC 3800

In research: NGC 3800 appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses NGC 3800 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: NGC 3800 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Arp objects, Astronomical objects discovered in 1784, Discoveries by William Herschel, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for NGC 3800 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study NGC 3800 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what NGC 3800 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain NGC 3800 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is NGC 3800 in simple terms?

Why does NGC 3800 matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study NGC 3800?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on NGC 3800.