NGC 4571

Spiral Galaxy NGC 4571

(= H 3.602),

type SBc,

in Coma Berenices

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)

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.

---

Hartmut Frommert

([email protected])

Christine Kronberg

([email protected])

Last Modification: 21 Mar 1998, 14:00 MET