NGC 4314

barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

Key facts

Constellation: Coma Berenices
Right ascension: 12 22 31.978
Declination: +29 ° 53 ′ 43.09 ″
Heliocentric radial velocity: 983 ± 5 km/s
Distance: 53.2 ± 2.9 Mly (16.3 ± 0.9 Mpc )
Group or cluster: Coma I
Type: SB(rs)a or SBa
Apparent size v: 2′.8 × 1′.4 ( NIR )
Notable features: Circumnuclear ring

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Wikidata facts

Image: NGC 4314HST1998-21-b-full.jpg

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Article

NGC 4314 is a barred spiral galaxy approximately 53 million light-years away in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices. It is positioned around 3° to the north and slightly west of the star Gamma Comae Berenices and is visible in a small telescope. The galaxy was discovered by German-born astronomer William Herschel on March 13, 1785. It was labelled as peculiar by Allan Sandage in 1961 because of the unusual structure in the center of the bar. NGC 4314 is a member of the Coma I group of galaxies.

The morphological classification of this galaxy is SBa, which indicates a barred spiral galaxy (SB) with very tightly wound spiral arms (a). It is inclined at an angle of 21° to the line of sight from the Earth, and the primary bar is oriented with a position angle of 158°. The bar extends out to a diameter of 76″ before joining the spiral arms. These trail in 130° arcs out to a radius of 125″ from the nucleus. Outside the nuclear region, the galaxy is considered generally gas-poor, with no H II regions in the outer spiral arms.