NGC 4452
I first noticed this object on an image of the HST. I found it particularly fascinating that the galaxy looked like a long, extremely thin line.
NGC 4452 belongs to the group of lenticular galaxies of type S0, so it is a mixture of spiral and elliptical galaxy. It is located in the constellation Virgo
at a distance of about 60 million light years. Its apparent brightness is 12.4mag with a size of 2.7'x0.6'. The galaxy was first discovered in 1784 by
F.W. Herschel.
The thin disk of NGC 4452 has a thickness ratio of 1:100, much more than the 1:40 ratio of our Milky Way. The extraordinary thing about the galaxy is
that, unlike other spiral galaxies, it does not have a "bulge", but has a nearly uniform thickness over its entire length of 35,000 light-years. Only a very
small pseudo-bulge is present. Even today it is difficult to say whether the galaxy has spiral arms or not. However, the fact that the disk is slightly curved
indicates the presence of spiral arms.
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NGC 4452 is located only 49 arc minutes away from the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 and is therefore actually quite easy to find. However, with a
brightness of 11.9mag, you should not expect to find a particularly eye-catching galaxy.
In my 20" telescope it appears at 270x as a long straight line with an equally elongated central region. Unfortunately the galaxy is not as elongated as
in the HST image. The ends are slightly rounded. It is also quite small compared to other galaxies. Not visible on the drawing is a nice asterism with
bright stars a little further away.
The galaxy is definitely worth a visit!
