NGC 4526 (also listed as NGC 4560) is a lenticular galaxy with an embedded dusty disc, located approximately 55 million light-years from the Solar System[3] in the Virgo constellation and discovered on 13 April 1784 by William Herschel.[6] Herschel observed it again on 28 December 1785, resulting in the galaxy being entered twice into the New General Catalogue.[6]
NGC 4526 | |
---|---|
![]() Supernova SN 1994D (lower left) in the outskirts of NGC 4526's central disk | |
Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
Constellation | Virgo |
Right ascension | 12h 34m 03.029s[1] |
Declination | +07° 41′ 56.90″[1] |
Redshift | 0.001494±0.000027 |
Heliocentric radial velocity | 448±8 km/s[2] |
Distance | 55±5 Mly (16.9±1.6 Mpc)[3] 52 Mly (15.8 Mpc)[4] |
Apparent magnitude (V) | 10.7[2] |
Characteristics | |
Type | SAB(s)0°[5] |
Apparent size (V) | 7′.2 × 2′.4[2] |
Other designations | |
IRAS 12315+0758, NGC 4560, UGC 7718, MCG +01-32-100, PGC 41772, CGCG 042-155[2] |
The galaxy is seen nearly edge-on. The morphological classification is SAB(s)0°,[5] which indicates a lenticular structure with a weak bar across the center and pure spiral arms without a ring.[7] It belongs to the Virgo cluster and is one of the brightest known lenticular galaxies.[5] In the galaxy's outer halo, globular cluster orbital velocities[8] indicate abnormal poverty of dark matter: only 43±18% of the mass within 5 effective radii.
The inner nucleus of this galaxy displays a rise in stellar orbital motion that indicates the presence of a central dark mass. The best fit model for the motion of molecular gas in the core region suggests there is a supermassive black hole with about 4.5+4.2
−3.0×108 (450 million) times the mass of the Sun.[9] This is the first object to have its black-hole mass estimated by measuring the rotation of gas molecules around its centre with an astronomical interferometer (in this case the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy).
Two supernovae have been observed in NGC 4526: