NGC 6970


NGC 6970 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation of Indus. Its velocity with respect to the cosmic microwave background is, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of. However, four non-redshift measurements give a much closer mean distance of. It was discovered by British astronomer John Herschel on 2 October 1834.
NGC 6970 is a Seyfert I galaxy, i.e. it has a quasar-like nucleus with very high surface brightnesses whose spectra reveal strong, high-ionisation emission lines, but unlike quasars, the host galaxy is clearly detectable.

NGC 7038 group

NGC 6970 is part of the NGC 7038 group, which contains at least 13 galaxies, including NGC 6987, NGC 7014, NGC 7038 and nine galaxies in the ESO catalogue.

Supernova

One supernova has been observed in NGC 6970:SN 2025aard was discovered by ATLAS on 17 October 2025.