NGC 3997 is a peculiar barred spiral galaxy in the constellation of Leo. Its velocity with respect to the cosmic microwave background is , which corresponds to a Hubble distance of . Additionally, one non-redshift measurement gives a farther distance of . It was discovered by British astronomer John Herschel on 19 February 1827.
NGC 3997 has a possible active galactic nucleus, i.e. it has a compact region at the center of a galaxy that emits a significant amount of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, with characteristics indicating that this luminosity is not produced by the stars.
NGC 3997 group NGC 3997 is a member of a group of galaxies named after it (also known as LGG 260). This group contains 6 galaxies, including , , , , and .
Supernova One supernova has been observed in NGC 3997: SN 2004aw (TypeIc, mag. 17.1) was discovered independently by Tom Boles and Kōichi Itagaki on 10 March 2004.
See also List of NGC objects (3001–4000)
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