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NGC 4340 is a double-barred lenticular galaxy located about 55 million
light-year
A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...
s away in the constellation
A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object.
The origins of the e ...
of Coma Berenices
Coma Berenices is an ancient asterism in the northern sky, which has been defined as one of the 88 modern constellations. It is in the direction of the fourth galactic quadrant, between Leo and Boötes, and it is visible in both hemisphere ...
. NGC 4340 was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on March 21, 1784. NGC 4340 is a member of the Virgo Cluster. NGC 4340 is generally thought to be in a pair with the galaxy NGC 4350.
Physical characteristics
NGC 4340 has a small inner bar embedded in a luminous stellar nuclear ring. Even though the ring is luminous, there are no star-forming regions. Instead, the ring is made of mostly old stars in a gas-poor environment. The color of the ring is the same as the color of the surrounding bulge suggesting that it is probably an old, “fossil” remnant of an earlier episode of star-formation. Crossing the inner ring, there is a larger primary bar with ansae at the ends. Careful inspection shows that the two bars are slightly misaligned, which suggests they may be independently rotating. The larger primary bar connects to another ring that surrounds the central regions of the galaxy.
SN1977A
On January 27, 1977 asupernova
A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...
of an unknown type was discovered in NGC 4340.
See also
*List of NGC objects (4001–5000)
This is a list of NGC objects 4001–5000 from the New General Catalogue (NGC). The astronomical catalogue is composed mainly of star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. Other objects in the catalogue can be found in the other subpages of the list of ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:NGC 4340 Barred lenticular galaxies Coma Berenices 4340 Virgo Cluster 40245 7467 Astronomical objects discovered in 1784