NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort
(This is a very very beta version)
NGC4173
Basic Information
Location and Magnitude
Right Ascension: 12:12:21.5
Declination: +29:12:26
Constellation: COM
Visual Magnitude: 13.0
Historic Information
Discoverer: Herschel W.
Year of discovery: 1785
Discovery aperture: 18.7
Observational
Summary description: F, S, 2nd of 4
Sub-type: Scd
Corwin's Notes
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NGC 4173. The position I've chosen applies to a very faint red knot, possibly
the nucleus, in the center of the eccentric bar. The approximate center of
the outer isophotes is close to 20 arcseconds northwest of this position; the
SDSS algorithm took this as the center of the entire galaxy, as did the
Hickson Atlas, and Jaffe and Gavazzi in their Coma Supercluster study of 1986.
It's possible that a position intermediate between these two may best
represent the galaxy. However, I have retained the position for what appears
to be the nucleus, as it is the brightest part of the bar in the DSS2 infrared
image.
The galaxy itself is probably a slightly distorted SB(s)dm pec seen nearly
edge-on. It is the largest galaxy in the compact group Hickson 61 with
NGC 4169, NGC 4174, and NGC 4175. See NGC 4170 for a mystery concerning two
other NGC objects in the area.
Steve's Notes
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NGC 4173
18" (6/17/06): faint, fairly large, very elongated 4:1 NW-SE, 1.5'x0.4'. Overall, low surface brightness with a very weak central brightening. Faintest of the HCG 61 quartet and apparently in the foreground as its recessional velocity is only 1/3 of the other three galaxies.
13.1" (4/12/86): very faint, very elongated NW-SE, low even surface brightness. Faintest in the NGC 4169 group = HCG 61 and located just 1.7' NNE of NGC 4169. Forms the north vertex of a rectangle with NGC 4174, and NGC 4175.