This R-band image shows the galaxy pair NGC 4633/4, also known as CPG 351 from Karachentsev's catalog of galaxy pairs. The image was obtained with the 1.1-m Hall telescope of Lowell Observatory. This pair of 15th-magnitude galaxies, also catalogued as Holmberg 268, lies in Coma, and is close to the core of the Virgo cluster about 70 million light-years away. The southern galaxy, NGC 4634, shows an unusually thickened disk, which I have highlighted with the intensity stretch here. This sort of thickening can result from a strong tidal encounter, certainly likely with a big neighbor so clos ein space and velocity. The image is displayed using a logarithmic intensity transformation, spanning an area about 7.3 by 7.2 arcminutes. North is up and east to the left.
Last changes: July 2002 © 2002