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NGC4216 · NGC 4216

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NGC 4216
Credit Donald Pelletier · CC BY-SA 4.0
Chinese nameNGC 4216
TypeGalaxy
ConstellationVir
RA12h16m
Dec+13°
Apparent magnitude10ᵐ
HemisphereBoth hemispheres
Best seasonSpring
DifficultyHard
Focal length长焦 1000mm+

About

NGC 4216 lies about 40 million light-years away in Virgo, a bright edge-on intermediate spiral in the Virgo cluster. Its disk shows a clear dark dust lane and a large, bright bulge. Deep exposures reveal multiple giant tidal stellar streams from dwarf galaxies it is absorbing, wreathing the galaxy like ghosts and making it an excellent example of hierarchical galaxy growth. Among the brighter members of the Virgo cluster, it often shares the frame with two neighboring edge-on galaxies. It is a popular deep-sky target for studying galactic accretion and merging.