NGC 4442

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NGC 4442
NGC 4442.DESIpng.png
DESI Legacy DR10 image of NGC 4442
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Virgo
Right ascension 12h 28m 03.88s
Declination +09° 48' 13.43"
Redshift 0.00117
Heliocentric radial velocity 351
Distance 48.01 Mly (14.72 Mpc)
Group or cluster Virgo Cluster
Apparent magnitude  (V)10.6
Characteristics
Type SB0
Mass 162.2 billion  M☉
Size83,100 ly (25,490 pc)
Other designations
UGC 7583, LEDA 40950, Z 70-100, VCC 1062

NGC 4442 also known as UGC 7583, is a barred lenticular galaxy, luminous infrared galaxy and active galaxy in the constellation of Virgo. [1] [2] The galaxy is 48 million light years (or 14,720,000 parsecs) away at a spectroscopic redshift z = 0.00117. [2] [3] The galaxy has a visual magnitude of 10.6 [3] , which is visible using a telescope with an aperture of 6 inches or more, and it can be observed in both hemispheres during certain times of the year. [4] The galaxy is located in the Virgo Cluster, along with other notable galaxies such as Messier 87 and the Eyes Galaxies. [1] The galaxy was discovered on April 15, 1784 by German-British astronomer, William Herschel. [5]

Contents

Physical properties

NGC 4442 is medium-sized barred lenticular galaxy located in the Virgo Cluster, and it was listed as the 1,062nd object in the Virgo Cluster Catalog (VCC). [1] [2] The galaxy has an estimated width of 83,000 light years (or 25,490 parsecs) across, or about 3/4 the size of the Milky Way. [2] This size is based on an 2MASS K-band total angular diameter of 5.95 arcmin (or 357 arcsecs) and a mean redshift-independent distance of 48 million light years (or 14,720,000 parsecs). [2]

NGC 4442 has a stellar mass of 162 billion M☉, or 10^11.21. [6] The galaxy is roughly 3/4th the stellar mass of the Milky Way. [6] The galaxy has a large stellar population of red-giant branch stars (also known as RGB stars), with an average age of 3.92 billion years old, and an mean mass of 1.09 M☉. [7] The neutral atomic hydrogen in the galaxy has an mass of 54.9 million M☉, and this gas is usually found in the outer regions of the galaxy such as the galactic halo. [6]

NGC 4442 has a K-band luminosity of 550 billion L☉, or 10^11.74 and therefore it is classified as a luminous infrared galaxy (also referred as LIRGs). [6] The galaxy is one of the closest luminous infrared galaxies known [2] , with a similar distance to other nearby luminous infrared galaxies such as Messier 77.

NGC 4442 has a star-formation rate of 10.7 M☉ per year, extremely high for gas-poor lenticular galaxies. [8] Despite its high-star formation rate it is not classified as a starburst galaxy, and the galaxy's star-formation rate is comparable to other lenticular galaxies such as Messier 85. [9] The total mass of the ionized atomic hydrogen in the galaxy, which mostly includes the star-forming regions is 109.6 million M☉, or 10^8.04. [6]

The galactic center of NGC 4442 shows a clear active galactic nucleus (also called AGNs), which is a region at the center of a galaxy that is extremely luminous and bright. [1] [9] The active galactic nucleus is powered by a massive supermassive black hole (also known as SMBHs) with a mass of 5.25 billion M☉ [10] or roughly 1,200 times more massive than Sagittarius A*, which is the central black hole of the Milky Way.

NGC 4442 has a population of 219 globular clusters, however some of them are potentially not globular clusters and are candidates. [11] [12] The globular clusters have angular radii between 0.0103 and 0.1042 arcsecs, corresponding to a half-light radius ranging from 2.41 to 24.3 light years (or 0.74 to 7.44 parsecs). [11]

Supernova

One supernova has been identified in NGC 4442: SN 2021qvv, which had a peak magnitude of 13.8 in July 2021, and it was classified as a Type Ia supernova (abbreviated as SNIa). [13] SN 2021qvv was discovered on June 24, 2021, by the Las Cumbres Observatory. [13] The supernova had a maximum absolute luminosity of -16.42, equivalent to 316 million L☉ and was considered a underluminous supernova similar to other supernovae such as SN 2006mr. [13] The supernova was formed by the collision of two white dwarfs with predicted masses of 0.85 M☉ and 1.1 M☉, creating a super-Chandrasekhar white dwarf which collapsed and exploded. [13]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "SIMBAD Results for NGC 4442". SIMBAD. Retrieved 2025-12-22.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "NED Results for NGC 4442". NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Retrieved 2025-12-22.
  3. 1 2 "In The Sky- NGC 4442". In The Sky. Retrieved 2025-12-22.
  4. ↑ "The Sky Live- NGC 4442". The Sky Live. Retrieved 2025-12-22.
  5. ↑ "New General Catalog Objects: NGC 4400-4449". New General Catalog Objects. Retrieved 2025-12-22.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Tempel, Elmo (2018). "Bayesian group finder based on marked point processes. Method and feasibility study using the 2MRS data set". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 618. arXiv: 1806.04469 . Bibcode:2018A&A...618A..81T. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201833217 . Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  7. ↑ Damsted, S. (2024). "AXES-SDSS: Comparison of SDSS galaxy groups with all-sky X-ray extended sources". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 690: A52. arXiv: 2403.17055 . Bibcode:2024A&A...690A..52D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202449591 . Retrieved 2025-12-22.
  8. ↑ Hoyer, Nils (2021). "The nucleation fraction of local volume galaxies". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 507 (3): 3246. arXiv: 2107.05313 . Bibcode:2021MNRAS.507.3246H. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stab2277 .
  9. 1 2 Asmus, D. (2020). "Local AGN survey (LASr): I. Galaxy sample, infrared colour selection, and predictions for AGN within 100 Mpc". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 494 (2): 1784. arXiv: 2003.05959 . Bibcode:2020MNRAS.494.1784A. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa766 .
  10. ↑ Dullo, Bililign (2020). "The Black Hole Mass-Color Relations for Early- and Late-type Galaxies: Red and Blue Sequences". The Astrophysical Journal. 898 (1): 83. arXiv: 2006.10128 . Bibcode:2020ApJ...898...83D. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab9dff .
  11. 1 2 Andrés, Jordán (2009). "The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey XVI. Selection Procedure and Catalogs of Globular Cluster Candidates". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 180 (1): 54. Bibcode:2009ApJS..180...54J. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/180/1/54 . Retrieved 2025-12-22.
  12. ↑ Biao, Li (2015). "A Gemini/GMOS Study of Intermediate Luminosity Early-type Virgo Cluster Galaxies. I. Globular Cluster and Stellar Kinematics". The Astrophysical Journal. 806 (1): 133. arXiv: 1505.05421 . Bibcode:2015ApJ...806..133L. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/806/1/133 . Retrieved 2025-12-22.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Graur, O. (2023). "No plateau observed in late-time near-infrared observations of the underluminous Type Ia supernova 2021qvv". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 526 (2): 2977. arXiv: 2306.12858 . Bibcode:2023MNRAS.526.2977G. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stad2960 .
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