UGC 9799

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UGC 9799, also known as 3C 317, is a giant elliptical radio galaxy in the Serpens constellation and the brightest member of the Abell 2052 cluster. It lies about 543 million light-years away (redshift z = 0.0345) and has an apparent magnitude of 14.17. The galaxy is roughly 330,000 light-years across with a bright, compact core.

There is an ultraviolet filament about 13,000 light-years south of the center, suggesting new star formation triggered by a nearby galaxy merger. Hubble images hint at a diffuse dust lane crossing the core, and there may be a second nucleus.

In radio waves, UGC 9799 has a steep spectrum with a large, irregular structure surrounding the core and a surrounding halo. At 4.9 GHz, the emission forms an S-shaped pattern with two short jets bending slightly from the peak; at 8.3 GHz, the jets align at about -32 degrees. The core is not highly variable.

The galaxy hosts an enormous globular cluster system—about 46,000 clusters in total, one of the largest known collections around a single galaxy. The central supermassive black hole is estimated to weigh around 100 million solar masses.