NGC 4302 is an edge-on

spiral galaxy Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae'' located about 55 million

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distance, astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 Orders of magnitude (numbers)#1012, trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 ...

s away in the constellation

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 was discovered by astronomer

William Herschel Frederick William Herschel (; german: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline ...

on April 8, 1784 and is a member of 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 la ...

. It is classified as a

Seyfert galaxy Seyfert galaxies are one of the two largest groups of active galaxies, along with quasars. They have quasar-like nuclei (very luminous, distant and bright sources of electromagnetic radiation) with very high surface brightnesses whose spectr ...

and as a LINER galaxy. It also has a prominent, extended dust lane.

Physical characteristics

The disk of NGC 4302 contains extraplanar dust that is organized into filamentary structures and large dust complexes. The apparent bending of many of the large complexes toward the north of the galaxy appears to be due to an interaction with the intracluster medium caused by the motion of NGC 4302 as it falls into the

. The dense, dusty matter in the disk of NGC 4302 appears to be largely tracing matter ejected from the disk by energetic feedback from massive stars. NGC 4302 hst 08242 R814G555B450

Extraplanar Diffuse Ionized Gas

First detected by Pildis et al., NGC 4302 has a faint but prominent layer of extraplanar diffuse ionized gas (DIG) that extends out to a galactocentric radius of ~ and a height of ~ above the plane of the galaxy. The DIG appears to have been

ionized Ionization, or Ionisation is the process by which an atom or a molecule acquires a negative or positive charge by gaining or losing electrons, often in conjunction with other chemical changes. The resulting electrically charged atom or molecule ...

photoionization Photoionization is the physical process in which an ion is formed from the interaction of a photon with an atom or molecule. Cross section Not every interaction between a photon and an atom, or molecule, will result in photoionization. The prob ...

OB star OB stars are hot, massive stars of spectral types O or early-type B that form in loosely organized groups called OB associations. They are short lived, and thus do not move very far from where they formed within their life. During their lifet ...

Box/Peanut Bulge

The presence of a boxy/peanut

bulge __NOTOC__ Bulge may refer to: Astronomy and geography *Bulge (astronomy), a tightly packed group of stars at the center of a spiral galaxy *Equatorial bulge, a bulge around the equator of a planet due to rotation *Tharsis bulge, vast volcanic pla ...

in NGC 4302 suggests that the galaxy contains a thickened

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar ( ...

that is viewed edge-on.

HI Disk

The HI disk of NGC 4302 is truncated to within the optical disk to the south of the galaxy. This truncation appears to be the result of

ram pressure Ram pressure is a pressure exerted on a body moving through a fluid medium, caused by relative bulk motion of the fluid rather than random thermal motion. It causes a drag force to be exerted on the body. Ram pressure is given in tensor form as ...

Tidal Bridge

Kantharia et al. and Zschaechner et al. both independently detected a tidal bridge between NGC 4302 and NGC 4298. The bridge is the result of a tidal interaction between the two galaxies. NGC 4298 and NGC 4302 - Heic1709a

HI tail

First identified by Chung et al., NGC 4302 has a ~ tail of neutral atomic

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-to ...

(HI) that extends to the north of the galaxy. The tail appears to be a result of

or by a tidal interaction with NGC 4298. However, NGC 4302 appears relatively undisturbed favoring the cause of the tail to be due to

. The HI tail is pointed away from M87 which suggests that NGC 4302 is falling into the center of the

on a highly radial orbit.

SN 1986E

NGC 4302 has hosted one

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 whe ...

, a Type IIL supernova designated as SN 1986E. The supernova was discovered by G. Candeo at the Asiago Observatory on April 13, 1986, with an

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the brightness of a star or other astronomical object observed from Earth. An object's apparent magnitude depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance from Earth, and any extinction of the object's ...

of 14.5.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:NGC 4302 4302 39974 Coma Berenices Astronomical objects discovered in 1784 Spiral galaxies Interacting galaxies 7418 Seyfert galaxies LINER galaxies Virgo Cluster Discoveries by William Herschel