NGC 4414 is an

unbarred spiral galaxy An unbarred spiral galaxyAstronomy Pictures(accessed 18 April 2010) is a type of spiral galaxy without a central bar, or one that is not a barred spiral galaxy. It is designated with an SA in the galaxy morphological classification scheme. Ba ...

about 62 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 ...

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 hemisphe ...

. It is a

flocculent spiral galaxy A flocculent spiral galaxy is a type of spiral galaxy. Unlike the well-defined spiral architecture of a grand design spiral galaxy, flocculent (meaning "flaky") galaxies are patchy, with discontinuous spiral arm Spiral galaxies form a ...

, with short segments of spiral structure but without the dramatic well-defined spiral arms of a grand design spiral. In 1974 a

supernova 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 ...

, SN 1974G, was observed and was the only supernova in this galaxy to be recorded until 7 June 2013 when SN 2013df was discovered at magnitude 14 and 1 January 2021 when SN 2021J was discovered at magnitude 12. It was imaged by the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versa ...

in 1995, as part of the HST's main mission to determine the distance to galaxies, and again in 1999 as part of the Hubble Heritage project. It has been part of an ongoing effort to study its

Cepheid variable A Cepheid variable () is a type of star that pulsates radially, varying in both diameter and temperature and producing changes in brightness with a well-defined stable period and amplitude. A strong direct relationship between a Cepheid varia ...

stars. The outer arms appear blue due to the continuing formation of young stars and include a possible luminous blue variable with an

absolute magnitude Absolute magnitude () is a measure of the luminosity of a celestial object on an inverse Logarithmic scale, logarithmic Magnitude (astronomy), astronomical magnitude scale. An object's absolute magnitude is defined to be equal to the apparent mag ...

of −10. NGC 4414 is also a very isolated galaxy without signs of past interactions with other galaxies and despite not being a

starburst galaxy A starburst galaxy is one undergoing an exceptionally high rate of star formation, as compared to the long-term average rate of star formation in the galaxy or the star formation rate observed in most other galaxies. For example, the star formatio ...

shows a high density and richness of gas – both atomic and molecular, with the former extending far beyond its optical disk. NGC 4414 is a member of the Coma I Group, a group of galaxies lying physically close to the

Virgo Cluster The Virgo Cluster is a large cluster of galaxies whose center is 53.8 ± 0.3 Mly (16.5 ± 0.1 Mpc) away in the constellation Virgo. Comprising approximately 1,300 (and possibly up to 2,000) member galaxies, the cluster forms the heart of the lar ...

References

External links

*
Hubble Heritage Project NGC 4414
*

Flocculent spiral galaxies Unbarred spiral galaxies Coma Berenices 4414 07539 40692 Coma I Group {{Spiral-galaxy-stub