NGC 4698 Galaxy in Virgo

NGC 4698 is a barred spiral galaxy located around 55 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Virgo.
It extends 50 000 light-years in diameter and belongs to the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.
A unique feature of this galaxy is that the stars and dust of the nuclear disk are rotating in a direction that is aligned perpendicularly to the galactic disk.
The bulge likewise appears elongated out of the galactic plane. This unusual alignment may have been the result of a past merger event.
NGC 4698 is classified as a Seyfert-2 galaxy with an active galactic nucleus, which displays a prominent emission of radio and X-ray energy from the core.
Nice details in the dust bands can be observed in the inner part of the galaxy.

Image data:
LRGB (460-140-120-140 min) total 14,3 h, north is to the right, seeing 0.8-1.2 arc-sec,
80cm f/7 Astrooptik Keller cassegrain, FLI PL-16803, Astrodon gen2 filters, Prompt 7 CTIO Chile

Processing: Johannes Schedler

Find here a wider image in 30/80% size end a center crop on the galaxy in 60/100% size below.

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Last modified on Friday, 31 May 2019 15:38

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