NGC 4458 is an elliptical galaxy located about 54 million light-years away[3][4] in the constellation of Virgo.[5] It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on April 12, 1784.[6] NGC 4458 is a member of Markarian's Chain which is part of the Virgo Cluster.[7] It is in a pair with the galaxy NGC 4461.[8] NGC 4458 and NGC 4461 are interacting with each other.[9]
NGC 4458 | |
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Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
Constellation | Virgo |
Right ascension | 12h 28m 57.5s[1] |
Declination | 13° 14′ 31″[1] |
Redshift | 0.002258/677 km/s[1] |
Distance | 54,801,600 ly |
Group or cluster | Virgo Cluster |
Apparent magnitude (V) | 12.93 [1] |
Characteristics | |
Type | E0 [1] |
Mass | ~1.07×1010[2] M☉ |
Size | ~ 29,000 ly (estimated)[1] |
Apparent size (V) | 1.7 x 1.6[1] |
Other designations | |
CGCG 70-114, MCG 2-32-82, PGC 41095, UGC 7610, VCC 1146[1] |
NGC 4458 may have a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of 200 million Suns (2×108 M☉).[2]
NGC 4458 has an edge-on nuclear disk which is estimated to be about 6 billion years old.[10] The disk likely formed from the merger of a gas-rich galaxy and has been found to have "similar properties to the decoupled cores of bright ellipticals".[11] [12]
Using Hubble images, it has been determined that NGC 4458 has a counter-rotating core.[9]
NGC 4458 has a low metal content but has an overabundance of the element iron.[9]