NGC 3953 - SB(r)bc

NGC 3953

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Type: SB(r)bc

Filter: B

Telescope: UH 2.2-m
North left , East down
Field Dimensions: 6.1 x 4.6 arcminutes

RC3 Type: SB(r)bc
RSA Type: SBbc(r)I-II
Surface Brightness Range Displayed: 17.5-26.0 mag per square arcsec
Absolute Blue Magnitude: -21.0
Elmegreen Spiral Arm Class: AC 9

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Description:

This spiral is very similar to NGC 2336 , and is another ``Milky Way" type. Both the inner ring and the bar are fairly well-defined, and in this case, the bar has more obvious dust lanes even though it is highly foreshortened. At least six major spiral arms can be identified in the outer disk. The B-I color index map shows the intriguing dust pattern in the bar region, and the lack of any recent star formation in that area. Although made of spiral arms, the inner ring is closed enough to merit the (r) classification. The Sbc classification is based on the extensiveness and patchiness of the outer arms.

NGC 3953 is part of the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Survey of Nearby Galaxies (BIMA SONG; Regan et al. 2001), a survey designed to map bright nearby galaxies in CO for comparison with other types of images. Regan et al. (2002) show that the distribution of CO in NGC 3953 is ring-like, extending from the inner ring to slightly beyond.

In the near-IR, the bar and inner ring morphology of NGC 3953 is much clearer than in the optical (Jarrett et al. 2003).