NGC 3786

NGC 3786 is an spiral galaxy located 107.5 million light-years^[2] away in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. It was discovered by English astronomer John Herschel on April 10, 1831. This object appears to form a close pair with its peculiar neighbor to the north, NGC 3788.^[7] They show some indications of interaction, such as minor distortion of the disk or tidal features.^[8]

Sloan Digital Sky Survey image of NGC 3786 (center), with NGC 3788 at top

NGC 3786
legacy surveys image of NGC 3786 (center), with NGC 3788 at top
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Right ascension	11h 39m 42.512s[1]
Declination	+31° 54′ 33.97″[1]
Redshift	0.008883[2]
Distance	107.5 Mly (32.95 Mpc)[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)	13.74[3]
Apparent magnitude (B)	14.62[3]
Characteristics
Type	(R')SA(rs)a[4]
Apparent size (V)	1.207′ × 0.627′[5] (NIR)
Other designations
NGC 3786, Arp 294, UGC 6621, PGC 36158, Mark 744[6]

The morphological classification of this galaxy is (R')SA(rs)a,^[4] indicating an unbarred spiral galaxy (SA) with an outer ring (R'), transitional inner ring (rs), and tightly wound spiral arms (a). The galactic plane is inclined at an angle of 61°±2° to the line of sight from the Earth.^[9] A mini-bar structure appears in the circumnuclear region.^[4][9] It is a type 1.8 Seyfert galaxy, with a detectable X-ray emission that is being partially absorbed by warm, dusty material along the line of sight.^[10] The active galactic nucleus of this galaxy is driven by a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of 5.0×10⁶ M_☉.^[11] An outburst from the core was observed in 1996^[12] and a mid-infrared flare in 2022.^[11]

Type Ic supernova^[13] SN 1999bu was detected from an image taken April 16, 1999. It was magnitude 17.5 and was located at an offset 1.3″ west and 3.1″ south of the galactic nucleus of NGC 3786.^[14] A possible progenitor to this core collapse supernova event was identified in 2003 from archival images.^[15] A second supernova, SN 2004bd, was discovered April 7, 2004.^[16] This was a type Ia supernova located 4.7″ west and 1.2″ south of the nucleus.^[17]