NGC 4261

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NGC 4261
NGC 4261 X-ray.png
An X-ray image of NGC 4261.
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Virgo
Right ascension 12h 19m 23.21606s [1]
Declination +05° 49′ 29.7000″ [1]
Redshift 0.007465 [2]
Heliocentric radial velocity 2,238±7 km/s [2]
Distance 95.9 ± 8.5  Mly (29.4 ± 2.6  Mpc) [3]
Group or cluster NGC 4261 group, Virgo Cluster
Apparent magnitude  (V)12.87 [4]
Apparent magnitude  (B)13.92 [4]
Characteristics
Type E2 [5]
Apparent size  (V)4′.17 × 3′.39 [6]
Other designations
NGC 4261, UGC 7360, [7] PGC 39659 [2]

NGC 4261 is an elliptical galaxy [8] located around 100 million light-years [9] away in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered April 13, 1784, by the German-born astronomer William Herschel. [10] The galaxy is a member of its own somewhat meager [11] galaxy group known as the NGC 4261 group, [8] which is part of the Virgo Cluster. [10] [ dubious – discuss ]

Contents

The morphological classification of this galaxy is E2, [5] indicating an elliptical galaxy with a 5:4 ratio between the major and minor axes. The stellar population of the galaxy is old, showing no indications of recent mergers or interactions with other members of its group. Large-scale isophotes of the galaxy are generally boxy in form, with no markers that would suggest a disruptive interaction within the last billion years. There is a dust lane along the north–south axis of the galaxy and a disk of dust around the nucleus.

Two prominent jets emanating from the nucleus can be observed in the radio band. It has an active galactic nucleus with a supermassive black hole somewhat offset from the center of the core. [12] The black hole is estimated to have a mass of (1.62±0.04)×109  M☉ . [13] The galaxy is estimated to be about 60 thousand light-years across, [14] and a jet emanating from it is estimated to span about 88 thousand light-years. [15]

A Type Ia supernova [5] event in this galaxy was reported on January 1, 2001. It was designated SN 2001A, marking the first supernova discovery of the year. The position of the event was 3.1″ west and 10.7″ north of the galactic nucleus. It reached magnitude 18.4 on December 15 of the previous year. [16]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4725</span> Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4639</span> Galaxy in the constellation Virgo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4388</span> Galaxy in the constellation Virgo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4293</span> Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

NGC 4293 is a lenticular galaxy in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices. It was discovered by English astronomer William Herschel on March 14, 1784, who described it as "large, extended, resolvable, 6 or 7′ long". This galaxy is positioned to the north-northwest of the star 11 Comae Berenices and is a member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. It is assumed to lie at the same distance as the Virgo Cluster itself: around 54 million light years away. The galaxy spans an apparent area of 5.3 × 3.1 arc minutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4178</span> Galaxy in the constellation Virgo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 7469</span> Galaxy located in the constellation Pegasus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 5728</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Libra

NGC 5728 is an active barred spiral galaxy located 146 million light years away in the southern constellation of Libra. It was discovered on May 7, 1787 by William Herschel. The designation comes from the New General Catalogue of J. L. E. Dreyer, published in 1888. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 13.40 and spans an angle of 3.4 arcminutes. The galaxy shows a red shift of 0.00935 and has a heliocentric radial velocity of 2,803 km/s. It has an estimated mass of 72 billion times the mass of the Sun and stretches around 30 kpc across.

References

  1. 1 2 Truebenbach, Alexandra E.; Darling, Jeremy (November 2017). "The VLBA Extragalactic Proper Motion Catalog and a Measurement of the Secular Aberration Drift". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 233 (1): 16. arXiv: 1710.02099 . Bibcode:2017ApJS..233....3T. doi: 10.3847/1538-4365/aa9026 . S2CID   119200128. 3.
  2. 1 2 3 "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 4261. Retrieved 2007-03-30.
  3. ↑ Jensen, Joseph B.; et al. (February 2003). "Measuring Distances and Probing the Unresolved Stellar Populations of Galaxies Using Infrared Surface Brightness Fluctuations". Astrophysical Journal. 583 (2): 712–726. arXiv: astro-ph/0210129 . Bibcode:2003ApJ...583..712J. doi:10.1086/345430. S2CID   551714.
  4. 1 2 Véron-Cetty, M.-P.; Véron, P. (2010). "A catalogue of quasars and active nuclei". Astronomy & Astrophysics . 13th. 518. Bibcode:2010A&A...518A..10V. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/201014188 . A10.
  5. 1 2 3 van den Bergh, Sidney; et al. (August 2002). "Classifications of the Host Galaxies of Supernovae". The Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 114 (798): 820–825. arXiv: astro-ph/0204298 . Bibcode:2002PASP..114..820V. doi:10.1086/341709. S2CID   46679854.
  6. ↑ Paturel, G.; et al. (December 2003). "HYPERLEDA. I. Identification and designation of galaxies". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 412: 45–55. Bibcode:2003A&A...412...45P. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361:20031411 .
  7. ↑ "NGC 4261". SIMBAD . Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg . Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  8. 1 2 Davis, David S.; et al. (1995). "Diffuse hot gas in the NGC 4261 group of galaxies" (PDF). Astrophysical Journal. 444 (2): 582–589. Bibcode:1995ApJ...444..582D. doi:10.1086/175632.
  9. ↑ "Massive Black Holes Dwell in Most Galaxies, According to Hubble Census". Hubblesite STScI-1997-01. 1997-01-13. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  10. 1 2 Seligman, Courtney. "New General Catalogue objects: NGC 4250 - 4299". cseligman.com. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  11. ↑ Zezas, A.; et al. (December 2003). "NGC 4261 and NGC 4697: Rejuvenated Elliptical Galaxies". The Astrophysical Journal. 599 (2): L73–L77. arXiv: astro-ph/0310567 . Bibcode:2003ApJ...599L..73Z. doi:10.1086/380895. S2CID   15195053.
  12. ↑ "Hubble Finds a New Black Hole – and Unexpected New Mysteries". Hubblesite STScI-1995-47. 1995-12-04. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  13. ↑ Ruffa, Ilaria; Davis, Timothy A.; Cappellari, Michele; Bureau, Martin; Elford, Jacob; Iguchi, Satoru; Lelli, Federico; Liang, Fu-Heng; Liu, Lijie; Lu, Anan; Sarzi, Marc; Williams, Thomas G. (2023). "WISDOM project – XIV. SMBH mass in the early-type galaxies NGC 0612, NGC 1574, and NGC 4261 from CO dynamical modelling". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 522 (4): 6170–6195. arXiv: 2304.06117 . Bibcode:2023MNRAS.522.6170R. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stad1119 .
  14. ↑ "The Virgo Cluster". An Atlas of the Universe. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  15. ↑ "The Giant Elliptical Galaxy NGC 4261". Astronomy 162 (Dept. Physics & Astronomy University of Tennessee). Retrieved 2010-05-02.[ dead link ]
  16. ↑ Modjaz, M.; et al. (January 2001). Green, D. W. E. (ed.). "Supernova 2001A in NGC 4261". IAU Circular. 7554: 2. Bibcode:2001IAUC.7554....2M.
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