Type

Supermassive

Location

In the constellation Ursa Major

Distance

45 million light-years (13.7 megaparsecs)

Mass

270 million to 800 million times the mass of the Sun

Size

Diameter roughly the diameter of Jupiter’s orbit to the diameter of Uranus’ orbit around the Sun

Discovery Methods

• Measuring the motions of gas
• Measuring the motions of stars

NGC 3998

A ground-based view of NGC 3998.

A ground-based view of NGC 3998.

This document was last modified: November 28, 2012.