NGC 3916 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major. Its velocity with respect to the cosmic microwave background is 5,922±12 km/s, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of 284.9 ± 20.0 Mly (87.34 ± 6.12 Mpc). It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on 14 April 1789.
NGC 3916 is a LINER galaxy, i.e. a galaxy whose nucleus has an emission spectrum characterized by broad lines of weakly ionized atoms. NGC 3916 is also a radio galaxy, i.e. it has giant regions of radio emission extending well beyond its visible structure.
Galaxy group
NGC 3916 belongs to a small galaxy group known as LDC 846. The other two galaxies in the group are NGC 3921 and NGC 3977.
Supernova
One supernova has been observed in NGC 3916:
- SN 1974D (type unknown, mag. 15.5) was discovered by Miklós Lovas on 20 March 1974.
