NGC 4536

NGC 4536 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on 24 January 1784.^[7]

NGC 4536
NGC 4536 imaged by the Mount Lemmon Skycenter
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Virgo
Right ascension	12h 34m 27.129s[1]
Declination	+02° 11′ 16.37″[1]
Redshift	0.006031 ± 0.000003[2]
Heliocentric radial velocity	1808 ± 1[3] km/s
Distance	48.7 ± 0.9 Mly (14.9 ± 0.3 Mpc)[4]
Apparent magnitude (V)	11.1[5]
Characteristics
Type	SAB(rs)bc[6]
Size	~108,200 ly (33.17 kpc) (estimated)[5]
Apparent size (V)	7.6′ × 3.2′[5]
Other designations
UGC 7732, MCG +00-32-023, PGC 41823, CGCG 014-068[5]

NGC 4536 is located about 10° south of the midpoint of the Virgo Cluster. However, it is not considered a member of the cluster.^[6] Rather, it is a member of the M61 Group of galaxies, which is a member of the Virgo II Groups, a series of galaxies and galaxy clusters strung out from the southern edge of the Virgo Supercluster.^[8][9][10] The morphological classification in the De Vaucouleurs system is SAB(rs)bc, which indicates it is a weakly barred spiral galaxy with a hint of an inner ring structure plus moderate to loosely wound arms.^[6] It does not have a classical bulge around the nucleus.^[11]

NGC 4536 has the optical characteristics of an HII galaxy, which means it is undergoing a strong burst of star formation.^[11] This is occurring prominently in the ring that surrounds the bar and nucleus.^[12] Based upon the level of X-ray emission from the core, it may have a small supermassive black hole with 10⁴–10⁶ times the mass of the Sun.^[11]

One supernova has been observed in NGC 4536: SN 1981B (type Ia, mag. 12.3) was discovered by Dmitry Tsvetkov on 2 March 1981, located 51 arcseconds to the northeast of the Galactic Center.^[13][14] It reached a peak visual magnitude of 12 on March 8 before steadily fading from view over the next two months.^[6]

Gallery

• 
  Detail of a region of extremely rapid star formation in this "starburst galaxy".^[15]
• 
  SDSS image of NGC 4536
• 
  NGC 4536 by Spitzer Space Telescope
• 
  NGC 4536 by GALEX (ultraviolet)
• 
  NGC 4536 imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope

See also

• NGC 6946 - a similar spiral galaxy
• NGC 1365 - A similar-looking galaxy
• List of NGC objects (4001–5000)