H-NGC4435 — The Eyes
Galaxy in Virgo
About
A barred lenticular galaxy in Virgo, about 52 million light-years away, which forms the Eyes with NGC 4438 in Markarian's Chain; the pair is also Arp 120. The two are interacting, and NGC 4435's nucleus holds a young stellar population about 190 million years old.
Imaging tips
- Only about 3×2′, so it is too small to frame: use a long focal length and a fine pixel scale.
- NGC 4438, the larger Eye, lies about 4.6′ away; one imager's 22′×22′ frame at 32 inches aperture held both.
- One imager collected 9.4 hours with a 152 mm refractor: 81 × 300 s luminance and 10–11 × 300 s per colour, over 12–16 May.
- An apparent tidal tail on NGC 4435 may be Milky Way cirrus rather than debris, according to some studies.
- Best around March and April; it stays below 53° altitude from 50°N.
Facts
- Size
- 3′ × 2′
- Magnitude
- 10.8
- Coordinates
- RA 12h 27.7m, Dec +13° 5′
- Framing, APS-C
- longer than 4000 mm
- Framing, full frame
- longer than 4000 mm
- Best months
- Mar, Apr
- Peak altitude
- 53° from 50°N, 68° from 35°N