NGC 4874 is a supergiant elliptical galaxy. It was discovered by the British astronomer Frederick William Herschel I in 1785, who catalogued it as a bright patch of nebulous feature. The second-brightest galaxy within the northern Coma Cluster, it is located at a distance of 109 megaparsecs (350,000,000 light-years) from Earth.

NGC 4874
NGC 4874 dominates this picture created from optical and near-infrared exposures taken with the Wide Field Channel of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys.
(Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA)
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationComa Berenices
Right ascension12h 59m 35.709s[1]
Declination+27° 57′ 33.80″[1]
Redshift0.023907±0.000007[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)11.4[3]
Apparent magnitude (B)13.7[4]
Characteristics
TypecD; Di
Size79.792 to 82.79 kpc (260,250 to 270,020 ly)
(diameter; D25.0 B-band and 2MASS K-band total isophotes[2]
Apparent size (V)1.9 × 1.9[2]
Other designations
NGC 4874, NFP J125935.7+275734, [BGH2001] 237, [KK90] 169, B2 1257+28, 10P 236, [BO85] Coma 1, [L84] A1656-G2, 5C 4.85, SDSS J125935.70+275733.3, [BTM97] ACO 1656 2, [LGF2005] B125711+281340, CAIRNS J125935.60+275734.0, TT 12, [CHM2007] LDC 926 J125935.70+2757338, [LO95] 1257+282, FOCA 0728-499, UGC 8103, [CHM2007] HDC 745 J125935.70+2757338, [MHR2010] 194.8988+27.9593, GIN 765, UZC J125935.6+275734, [D80] ACO 1656 129, [MO2001b] J125935.7+275732.3, GMP 3329, 4W 1257+28W01, [DFO95] 246, [MOL2003] A1656 J125935+275730, GP 489, 7W 1257+28W01, [DLB87] C11, [OLK95] 1257+282, LEDA 44628, WSTB 74W16, [EDG2007] 3, [OR76] 1257+282, 2MASX J12593562+2757360, Z 1257.2+2814, [FBH2004] X281, [OSR2002] b089, 2MASX J12593570+2757338, Z 160-A22, [FBH2004] S89, [PL95] ACO 1656 G2, MCG+05-31-070, Z 160A-22, [FWB89] Galaxy 321, [ZBO89] ACO 1656-5, MPMM 123, Z 160-231, [K94] 125710.70+281346.0

Characteristics edit

The galaxy is surrounded by an immense stellar halo that extends up to one million light-years in diameter. It is also enveloped by a huge cloud of interstellar medium that is currently being heated by action of infalling material from its central supermassive black hole. A jet of highly energetic plasma extends out to 1,700 light-years from its center. The galaxy has 18,700 ± 2,260 globular clusters.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b "SIMBAD basic query result". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 4889. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
  3. ^ Michard, R.; Andreon, S. (2008). "Morphology of galaxies in the Coma cluster region down to M_B = -14.25. I. A catalog of 473 members". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 490 (3): 923. arXiv:0809.2487. Bibcode:2008A&A...490..923M. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200810283. S2CID 16930860.
  4. ^ Falco, Emilio E.; Kurtz, Michael J.; Geller, Margaret J.; Huchra, John P.; Peters, James; Berlind, Perry; Mink, Douglas J.; Tokarz, Susan P.; Elwell, Barbara (1999). "The Updated Zwicky Catalog (UZC)". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 111 (758): 438. arXiv:astro-ph/9904265. Bibcode:1999PASP..111..438F. doi:10.1086/316343. S2CID 14298026.

External links edit