UGC 9799 is categorized as an elliptical galaxy with a slightly elongated appearance but its nucleus is unresolved. There is an ultraviolet filament present in the galaxy four kiloparsecs to the south from the nucleus region. This evidence suggests star formation activity is triggered by a galaxy merger of an nearby satellite galaxy.[7][6] Imaging made by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), found the core isophotes seem to be extending towards a dark band feature suggested to be a diffused dust lane.[8] A secondary nucleus is likely present in UGC 9799.[9]
The galaxy contains a radio source that has a steep radio spectrum. When observed with the Very Large Array (VLA), the structure is mainly irregular and its spectra index is mainly 0.8 below the frequencies of 200 MHz but gets much steeper upon reaching more than 750 MHz.[10] A compact radio core is found at the center of the source; however there are no signs that the core is significantly variable. There is a large bipolar structure surrounding the core region, which in turn is enveloped inside a halo. There is also a loop structure linking together with its northern radio lobe and a plume feature.[11] New observations at 4.9 GHz found the radio morphology is classified as S-shaped with two short jet features that have a bending angle of 5 milliarcseconds from the radio peak. At 8.3 GHz, these jets are shown to have an alignment to around -32°.[12]
Studies published in 1995 and in 2017 have found the presence of globular clusters inside UGC 9799 based on imaging.[13][14] Further evidence also found there are 46,000 clusters in total, making these the largest amount found so far.[15] A supermassive black hole mass of 108 Mʘ has been estimated for the galaxy.[16]
