NGC 4638

NGC 4638
Sloan Digital Sky Survey image of NGC 4638.
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Virgo
Right ascension	12h 42m 47.4s[1]
Declination	11° 26′ 33″[1]
Redshift	0.003843[1]
Heliocentric radial velocity	1152 km/s[1]
Distance	50.77 Mly (15.565 Mpc)[1]
Group or cluster	Virgo Cluster
Apparent magnitude (V)	12.1[1]
Characteristics
Type	S0[1]
Size	~42,800 ly (13.13 kpc) (estimated)[1]
Apparent size (V)	2.17 x 1.27[1]
Other designations
NGC 4667, CGCG 70-229, CGCG 71-6, MCG 2-32-187, PGC 42728, UGC 7880, VCC 1938[1]

NGC 4638 is an edge-on lenticular galaxy^[2] located about 50 million light-years away^[3] in the constellation Virgo.^[4] NGC 4638 was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on March 15, 1784.^[5] The galaxy is a member of the Virgo Cluster.^[6][7]

Structure

At the center of NGC 4638, there is a small bulge. There is also an edge-on disk and a diffuse, boxy halo. The shallow surface brightness gradient of the halo is characteristic of a large spheroidal galaxy. This means that NGC 4638 has properties of both S0 and Sph galaxies.^[8]

See also

• List of NGC objects (4001–5000)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to NGC 4638.