Right Ascension | 12 : 36.9 (h:m) |
---|---|
Declination | +14 : 13 (deg:m) |
Distance | 60000 (kly) |
Visual Brightness | 11.3 (mag) |
Apparent Dimension | 4.1 x 3.4 (arc min) |
Discovered by William Herschel on January 14, 1787.
NGC 4571 was one of the discoveries of William Herschel who listed it as H III.602. It was proposed as possible candidate for M91 by John Herschel in his General Catalogue (GC), and consequently in Dreyer's NGC; we now know that M91 is very probably NGC 4548 (H II.120). Nevertheless, these two galaxies forms a beautiful pair.
This galaxy is a member of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. It has apparently a high peculiar motion toward us, as it is receding from us with only 282 km/sec, compared to the cluster's 1100 km/sec.
NGC 4571 came into discussion in summer 1994 when a group of astronomers at the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) used observations of 3 Cepheids in this galaxy for a determination of the Hubble constant.
Last Modification: 21 Mar 1998, 14:00 MET