NGC 4656 and NGC 4657

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NGC 4656/7
Crowbar-Galaxy.png
NGC 4656/7
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Canes Venatici [1]
Right ascension 12h 43m 57.7s [2]
Declination +32° 10′ 05″ [2]
Redshift 646 km/s [2]
Apparent magnitude  (V)11.0 [2]
Characteristics
Type SB(s)m pec [2]
Size78,500 ly
Apparent size  (V)12.9′ [2]
Notable featuressimilar to SMC
Other designations
UGC 7907, [2] PGC 42863, [2] Hockey Stick Galaxies, Crowbar Galaxy

NGC 4656/57, also known as Messier's Hockey Stick, [3] is a highly warped edge-on [4] barred spiral galaxy located in the local universe 30 million light years away from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. [5] This galaxy is sometimes called the Fish Hook Galaxy, [6] Hockey Stick Galaxy, or the Crowbar Galaxy. Its unusual shape is thought to be due to an interaction between NGC 4656, NGC 4631, and NGC 4627. [7] The galaxy is a member of the NGC 4631 Group.

Contents

A luminous blue variable in "super-outburst" was discovered in NGC 4656/57 on March 21, 2005. [8]

Close up Hubble image of the galaxy The Hockey Stick Galaxy.jpg
Close up Hubble image of the galaxy

See also

References

  1. ↑ R. W. Sinnott, ed. (1988). The Complete New General Catalogue and Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters by J. L. E. Dreyer. Sky Publishing Corporation and Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-933346-51-2.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 4656. Retrieved 2006-04-30.
  3. ↑ O'Meara, Stephen James (2007). Deep-Sky Companions: Hidden Treasures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-83704-0.
  4. ↑ info@noirlab.edu. "Hockey Stick Galaxy NGC 4656". www.noirlab.edu. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
  5. ↑ information@eso.org. "The Hockey Stick Galaxy". www.spacetelescope.org. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
  6. ↑ Stoyan, Ronald; Schurig, Stephan (2014). interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas. Erlangen: Cambridge University Press; Oculum-Verlag GmbH. ISBN   978-1-107-50338-0. OCLC   920437579.
  7. ↑ "The Hockey Stick Galaxy". www.spacetelescope.org. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  8. ↑ Smith, Nathan; Li, Weidong; Silverman, Jeffrey M.; Ganeshalingam, Mohan; Filippenko, Alexei V. (2011-07-21). "Luminous blue variable eruptions and related transients: diversity of progenitors and outburst properties: LBV diversity". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 415 (1): 773–810. arXiv: 1010.3718 . doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18763.x .
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