NGC 4666
Spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo
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NGC 4666 is a spiral galaxy in the equatorial constellation of Virgo, located at a distance of approximately 55 megalight-years from the Milky Way.[3] It was discovered by the German-born astronomer William Herschel on February 22, 1784. It is a member of the Virgo II Groups, a series of galaxies and galaxy clusters strung out from the southern edge of the Virgo Supercluster.[7][8] John L. E. Dreyer described it as "bright, very large, much extended 45°±, pretty suddenly brighter middle".[9] It is a member of an interacting system with NGC 4668 and a dwarf galaxy,[10] and belongs to a small group that also includes NGC 4632,[2] that is known as the NGC 4666 Group.[11][12]
| NGC 4666 | |
|---|---|
 The superwind galaxy NGC 4666 | |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Virgo |
| Right ascension | 12h 45m 08.676s[1] |
| Declination | −00° 27′ 42.88″[1] |
| Heliocentric radial velocity | 1,517 km/s[2] |
| Distance | 54.89 ± 0.65 Mly (16.83 ± 0.20 Mpc)[3] |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 10.8[4] |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | SABc[2] |
| Size | 115,730 ly (35.50 kpc) (diameter; D25 isophote)[5] |
| Apparent size (V) | 4′.6 × 1'.3[2] |
| Notable features | Starburst |
| Other designations | |
| PMN J1245-0027, UZC J124508.0-002744, IRAS F12425-0011, UGC 7926, MCG +00-33-008, PGC 42975[6] | |
The morphological classification of this galaxy is SABc, which indicates a weak bar around the nucleus with moderately wound spiral arms. Viewed nearly edge-on, its galactic plane is inclined at an angle of 85°±2° to the line of sight from the Earth, with the major axis aligned along a position angle of 40°. There is an active galactic nucleus that shows a modest level of activity and is most likely heavily obscured by gas and dust. The central point source has been detected in the radio and X-ray bands.[2]
This is a starburst galaxy that is noteworthy for its vigorous star formation, which creates an unusual superwind[13] of out-flowing gas. This wind is not visible at optical wavelengths, but is prominent in X-rays, and has been observed by the ESA XMM-Newton space telescope.[14] The estimated star formation rate is 7.3 M☉ yr−1, with a density of 8.9×10−3 M☉ yr−1 kpc−2. Unlike in many other starburst galaxies, the star formation is spread across the disk rather than being more concentrated.[2]
Supernovae
Three supernovae have been observed in NGC 4666:
- SN 1965H (Type IIP, mag. 14) was discovered by Enrique Chavira on 23 May 1965.[15][16]
- ASASSN-14lp (Type Ia, mag. 14.3) was discovered by ASAS-SN on 9 December 2014; it was located 12″ from the center of the galaxy.[17][18]
- SN 2019yvr (Type Ib, mag. 15.882) was discovered by ATLAS on 27 December 2019.[19][20] It has a 0.005 redshift. Images of the location of the supernova before the explosion showed the progenitor star was ~19M☉.[21]
