NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort
(This is a very very beta version)
NGC4866
Basic Information
Location and Magnitude
Right Ascension: 12:59:27.0
Declination: +14:10:17
Constellation: VIR
Visual Magnitude: 11.2
Historic Information
Discoverer: Herschel W.
Year of discovery: 1787
Discovery aperture: 18.7
Observational
Summary description: B, pL, mE 90°, sbMN, S * inv
Sub-type: S0-a
Steve's Notes
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NGC 4866
48" (4/2/11): extremely bright, very large, beautiful edge-on 7:1 E-W, ~4'x0.6'. Sharply concentrated with a small extremely bright nucleus. The central region bulges slightly (spindle-shaped). A bright star (mag 12?) is superimposed on the NW edge, ~50" from the center. GR 8 = UGC 8091, a low surface brightness Local Group member, lies 12' WNW. At 375x, GR 8 appeared fairly faint, moderately large, round, ~1.2' diameter. It contains a very small brighter core and stellar nucleus.
17.5" (3/20/93): fairly bright, large, edge-on 5:1 E-W, 5.0'x1.0', prominent core, stellar nucleus. A mag 13 star is embedded on the west side 0.8' WNW of center. The core appears slightly offset towards the star or the extension west of the core may appear less prominent due to the glare.