NGC 4490

Also known as Cocoon Galaxy

interacting galaxy

Key facts

Constellation: Canes Venatici
Right ascension: 12 30 36.2390
Declination: 41 ° 38 ′ 38.032 ″
Heliocentric radial velocity: 565 ± 3 km / s
Distance: 25.1 ± 5.0 Mly (7.7 ± 1.5 Mpc )
Type: SB(s)d pec
Size: ~40,200 ly (12.34 kpc ) (estimated)
Apparent size v: 6.3′ × 3.1′

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Wikidata facts

Constellation: Canes Venatici
Distance from Earth: 7.96
Image: NGC4490.jpg

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Commons category: NGC 4490
catalog code: LEDA 41333
discoverer or inventor: William Herschel
time of discovery or invention: 1788-01-14
apparent magnitude: 7.352
galaxy morphological type: Im/BCD
right ascension: 187.6515333
declination: 41.6436306
redshift: 0.001885
radial velocity: 570
epoch: J2000.0

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Encyclopedic overview

NGC 4490, also known as the Cocoon Galaxy, is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on 14 January 1788. It is known to be one of the closest interacting/merging galactic systems. The galaxy lies at a distance of 25 million light years from Earth. It interacts with its smaller companion NGC 4485 and as a result is a starburst galaxy. NGC 4490 and NGC 4485 are collectively known in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies as Arp 269. The two galaxies have already made their closest approach and are rushing away from each other. It has been discovered that NGC 4490 has a double nucleus.

NGC 4490 is located 45 arcminutes northwest of beta Canum Venaticorum and with apparent visual magnitude 9.8, can be observed with 15x100 binoculars. It is a member of the Herschel 400 Catalogue. It belongs to the Canes II Group. NGC 4490 has a system of satellite galaxies oriented roughly in a plane.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “NGC 4490” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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