NGC 4656 and NGC 4657 explained

NGC 4656/7
Constellation Name:	Canes Venatici^[1]
Epoch:	J2000
Type:	SB(s)m pec^[2]
Z:	646 km/s
Appmag V:	11.0
Size V:	12.9
Size:	78,500 ly
Notes:	similar to SMC
Names:	UGC 7907, PGC 42863, Hockey Stick Galaxies, Crowbar Galaxy

NGC 4656/57 is a highly warped edge-on^[3] barred spiral galaxy located in the local universe 30 million light years away from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici.^[4] This galaxy is sometimes called the Hockey Stick Galaxy or the Crowbar Galaxy. Its unusual shape is thought to be due to an interaction between NGC 4656, NGC 4631, and NGC 4627.^[5] The galaxy is a member of the NGC 4631 Group.

A luminous blue variable in "super-outburst" was discovered in NGC 4656/57 on March 21, 2005.^[6]

See also

• Antennae Galaxies

External links

• Hockey Stick (NGC 4656)
• SEDS – NGC 4656

Notes and References

1. Book: R. W. Sinnott . The Complete New General Catalogue and Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters by J. L. E. Dreyer . 1988 . Sky Publishing Corporation and Cambridge University Press . 978-0-933346-51-2.
2. Web site: NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database . Results for NGC 4656 . 2006-04-30.
3. Web site: [e-mail] . Hockey Stick Galaxy NGC 4656 . 2023-12-02 . www.noirlab.edu . en.
4. Web site: [e-mail] . The Hockey Stick Galaxy . 2023-12-02 . www.spacetelescope.org . en.
5. Web site: The Hockey Stick Galaxy. www.spacetelescope.org. 31 July 2017.
6. Smith . Nathan . Li . Weidong . Silverman . Jeffrey M. . Ganeshalingam . Mohan . Filippenko . Alexei V. . 2011-07-21 . Luminous blue variable eruptions and related transients: diversity of progenitors and outburst properties: LBV diversity . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . en . 415 . 1 . 773–810 . 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18763.x. 1010.3718 .