NGC 4656

Spiral Galaxy NGC 4656

(= H I.176),

type Sc pec

in Canes Venatici

Right Ascension	12 : 44.0 (h:m)
Declination	+32 : 10 (deg:m)
Distance	30,000 (kly)
Visual Brightness	10.4 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	13.8 x 3.3 (arc min)

NGC 4656 is a large spiral galaxy, which is significantly distorted by

the interaction with its large neighbor NGC 4631.

Rich field telescopes and large binoculars show both galaxies in the same field.

The bright knot on the East of this galaxy has been assigned the separate

NGC number NGC 4657 (as William Herschel had cataloged it separately as

H I.177); some sources say this is a companion to the galaxy.

Beyond the knot, this galaxy “curves up” as a result of distortion.

A bridge of hydrogene gas is connecting both galaxies.

Our image was obtained by

Michael Purcell, taken with a Meade 10″ f/6.3 SC telescope and

ST-7 CCD camera, exposed 15 minutes, on April 25, 1997 at 22:37:41.

In the SAC 110 best NGC object list.

No. 65 in the RASC Finest NGC Objects list.

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Hartmut Frommert

([email protected])

Christine Kronberg

([email protected])

Last Modification: 22 Mar 1998, 21:10 MET