NGC 3166
galaxy
NGC 3166 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Sextans. The galaxy lies about 65 million light years away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that NGC 3166 is approximately 105,000 light years across. It was discovered by William Herschel on December 19, 1783.
Characteristics
NGC 3166 has a bright, elongated nucleus, surrounded by an elliptical bright bulge, elongated along a nearly east-west axis. In the central 6-7 arcseconds there is evidence of a circumnuclear star disk. The age of the stars in the nucleus is estimated to be no older than two billion years. A low-surface-brightness bar is visible lying nearly perpendicular to that. The fainter parts of the bulge are nearly circular, about one arcminute in diameter, and with spiral whorls. Beyond that lies a low-surface-brightness disk, without spiral arms or knots. Dust lanes are visible over the disk of the galaxy.
The public source identifies “NGC 3166” as galaxy. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around galaxy.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “NGC 3166”, the useful work is to connect “galaxy” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q962075. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1783.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “NGC 3166” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.