NGC 4747

NGC 4747
NGC 4747 by legacy surveys
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationComa Berenices
Right ascension12h 51m 45.9s[1]
Declination+25° 46′ 37″[1]
Redshift0.003969 ± 0.000003 [1]
Heliocentric radial velocity1,190 ± 1 km/s[1]
Distance32 Mly (9.8 Mpc)[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)12.4
Characteristics
TypeSBcd? pec [1]
Apparent size (V)3.5′ × 1.2′[1]
Notable featurestidal tail
Other designations
UGC 8005, Arp 159, CGCG 129-028, MCG +04-30-023, PGC 43586[1]

NGC 4747 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Coma Berenices. It is located at a distance of about 35 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 4747 is about 35,000 light years across.[1] It was discovered by William Herschel on April 6, 1785.[2] It is included in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies in the interior absorption category.

The galaxy is a member of the Coma I Group, which is part of the Local Supercluster.[3] NGC 4747 is interacting with neighboring spiral galaxy NGC 4725, with its spiral arms showing indications of warping. The pair have an angular separation of 24′, which corresponds to a projected linear separation of 370 kly.[4] A close approach between NGC 4747 and the more massive NGC 4725 that took place 320 million years before observed created tidal plumes in NGC 4747.[5]

A short tidal plume extends from NGC 4747 toward NGC 4725, to the south-west, and one more pronounced towards the north-east,[6] with a length of 8 arcminutes. The optical north-east plume has also a hydrogen counterpart, which is offset by 50 degrees from the visual counterpart.[4] Two knots, possibly star clusters, are visible in the northeast plume, that could become tidal dwarf galaxies, as they appear to be massive enough to be self-gravitating.[7][8]

The star formation rate of the galaxy is estimated to be 0.13 solar masses per year.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 4747. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  2. ^ Seligman, Courtney. "NGC 4747 (= PGC 43586 = Arp 159)". Celestial Atlas. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  3. ^ Gregory, S.A.; Thompson, L. A. (1977). "The Coma I Galaxy Cloud". The Astrophysical Journal. 213: 345–350. Bibcode:1977ApJ...213..345G. doi:10.1086/155160. ISSN 0004-637X.
  4. ^ a b Wevers, B. M. H. R.; et al. (November 1984). "Neutral hydrogen observations of the interacting galaxies NGC 4725 and NGC 4747". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 140: 125–140. Bibcode:1984A&A...140..125W.
  5. ^ Mullan, B.; Kepley, A. A.; Maybhate, A.; English, J.; Knierman, K.; Hibbard, J. E.; Bastian, N.; Charlton, J. C.; Durrell, P. R.; Gronwall, C.; Elmegreen, D.; Konstantopoulos, I. S. (26 April 2013). "Under Pressure: Star Clusters and the Neutral Hydrogen Medium of Tidal Tails". The Astrophysical Journal. 768 (2): 194. arXiv:1304.3414. Bibcode:2013ApJ...768..194M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/768/2/194.
  6. ^ Barber, C. R.; Warwick, R. S. (March 1994). "The spectrum of the extragalactic X-ray background below 3 keV". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 267 (2): 270–282. Bibcode:1994MNRAS.267..270B. doi:10.1093/mnras/267.2.270.
  7. ^ Lee-Waddell, K.; Spekkens, K.; Chandra, P.; Patra, N.; Cuillandre, J.-C.; Wang, J.; Haynes, M. P.; Cannon, J.; Stierwalt, S.; Sick, J.; Giovanelli, R. (11 August 2016). "The frequency and properties of young tidal dwarf galaxies in nearby gas-rich groups". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 460 (3): 2945–2961. arXiv:1605.04386. doi:10.1093/mnras/stw1162.
  8. ^ Lee-Waddell, K; Madrid, J P; Spekkens, K; Donzelli, C J; Koribalski, B S; Serra, P; Cannon, J (21 October 2018). "Optical spectroscopy of young tidal objects around two interacting galaxy pairs". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 480 (2): 2719–2725. arXiv:1807.10404. doi:10.1093/mnras/sty2042.
  9. ^ Tsai, Mengchun; Hwang, Chorng-Yuan (14 July 2015). "Star Formation in the Central Regions of Active and Normal Galaxies". The Astronomical Journal. 150 (2): 43. Bibcode:2015AJ....150...43T. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/150/2/43.
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