NGC 3172

NGC 3172 (also known as Polarissima Borealis^[1]) is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is the closest NGC object to the north celestial pole.^[1] Discovered by John Herschel in 1831, it is about 285 million light-years away and about 85 thousand light-years across.^[3]

NGC 3172
Pan-STARRS image of NGC 3172
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Ursa Minor
Right ascension	11h 47m 11.928s[1]
Declination	+89° 05′ 35.77″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)	14.9[1]
Characteristics
Type	S0[2]
Apparent size (V)	0.92′ × 0.79′[1]
Notable features	Closest NGC object to the north celestial pole.
Other designations
NGC 3172, PGC 36847, MCG 15-1-11

Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 3172. SN 2010af (type Ia, mag. 17.2), was discovered on 4 March, 2010.^[4] SN 2017gla (type Ia, mag. 16), was discovered on 1 September, 2017.^[5]

See also

• NGC 2573 - the closest NGC object to the south celestial pole.