NGC 4654

NGC 4654 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation of Virgo at a distance of 55 million light years (16.8 megaparsecs) from the Milky Way[2] that can be spotted with amateur telescopes.

NGC 4654
NGC 4654 as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationVirgo
Right ascension 12h 43m 42.6s[1]
Declination+13° 07′ 36″[1]
Redshift1046 ± 5 km/s[1]
Distance55.0 Mly
Group or clusterVirgo Cluster
Apparent magnitude (V)12.0[1]
Characteristics
TypeSAB(rs)cd[1]
Apparent size (V)5′.2 × 1′.4[1]
Other designations
UGC 7902,[1] PGC 42857, VCC 1987[1]

Physical characteristics

NGC 4654 is a member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies that shows peculiarities in the distribution of both its atomic hydrogen and molecular hydrogen as well as an assimetry on the distribution of its stars,[3] with the atomic hydrogen being compressed in the galaxy's northwestern part and forming a tail on its southeastern part.[4] While interactions with Virgo's intracluster medium -that is stripping NGC 4654 of its gas as the galaxy moves through it- can explain its gas distribution, its unable to explain the peculiarities on the distribution of its stars, having been proposed that NGC 4654 interacted with its neighbor the spiral galaxy NGC 4639 about 500 million years ago producing this event the latter phenomenon, while experimenting until the present day weak ram-pressure stripping due to its motion within the Virgo cluster.[3]

Despite suffering a loss of its neutral gas, NGC 4654 does not suffer the deficiency of it that show many spiral galaxies of the Virgo cluster and also has the star formation typical for a galaxy of its type.[2]

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See also
  • Messier 88, another spiral galaxy of the Virgo cluster currently suffering ram-pressure stripping.
  • NGC 4457

References
  1. "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 4654. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  2. Koopmann, R.; Kenney, J. D. P. (2004). "Hα Morphologies and Environmental Effects in Virgo Cluster Spiral Galaxies". The Astrophysical Journal. 613 (2): 866–885. arXiv:astro-ph/0406243. Bibcode:2004ApJ...613..866K. doi:10.1086/423191.
  3. Vollmer, B. (2003). "NGC 4654: Gravitational interaction or ram pressure stripping?". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 398 (2): 525–539. arXiv:astro-ph/0211321. Bibcode:2003A&A...398..525V. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20021729.
  4. Chung, Aeree; van Gorkom, J. H.; Kenney, Jeffrey D. P.; Vollmer, Bernd (2007). "Virgo Galaxies with Long One-sided H I Tails". The Astrophysical Journal. 659 (2): L115–L119. arXiv:astro-ph/0703338. Bibcode:2007ApJ...659L.115C. doi:10.1086/518034.
  • Media related to NGC 4654 at Wikimedia Commons


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