NGC 4102 is an intermediate[9] barred spiral galaxy located in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. It is visible in a small telescope and has an apparent visual magnitude of 11.2.[7] The galaxy was discovered April 12, 1789 by William Herschel. J. L. E. Dreyer described it as "bright, pretty small, round, brighter middle and bright nucleus".[11] This galaxy is located at a distance of 60[5] million light years and is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 837 km/s.[4] It is a member of the Ursa Major group of galaxies.[6]

NGC 4102
NGC 4102 image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationUrsa Major[1]
Right ascension12h 06m 23.115s[2]
Declination+52° 42′ 39.42″[2]
Redshift0.002792[3]
Heliocentric radial velocity837 km/s[4]
Distance59.6 Mly (18.3 Mpc)[5]
Group or clusterUrsa Major group[6]
Apparent magnitude (V)11.2[7]
Apparent magnitude (B)11.8[8]
Characteristics
TypeSAB(s)b,[9][10] SABab[3]
Apparent size (V)2.9 × 1.8′[7]
Notable featuresLINER[9]
Other designations
IRAS 12038+5259, 2MASX J12062311+5242394, WISE J120623.07+524239.8, UGC 7096, LEDA 38392, MCG MCG+09-20-094, PGC 38392, SDSS J120623.00+524240.1[8]

The morphological class of NGC 4102 is SABab[3] or SAB(s)b?,[10] which is a spiral galaxy with a bar-like feature around the core (SAB), no inner ring structure (s), and moderately tightly-wound spiral arms ('ab' or 'b'). However, the bar in this galaxy is considered particularly small for galaxies of this class.[10] The galactic plane is inclined at an angle of 56°± to the line of sight from the Earth.[12] NGC 4102 has a region of intense star formation in the nuclear region, known as a starburst region.[6] This volume is 1,000 ly (310 pc) in diameter containing some 3 billion solar masses.[13] An outflow of hydrogen has been detected, extending outward to the northwest as far as 6.3 kpc (21 kly) from the nucleus.[14]

The core of NHC 4102 is almost certainly an active galactic nucleus (AGN),[15] which indicates it has a supermassive black hole (SMBH) that is generating energy by accreting material.[16] It is an X-ray source with a spectrum similar to a Seyfert 2 galaxy.[15] This type of AGN is known as a Type-2 LINER, or low-ionization nuclear emission-line region. This is due to a core that is obscured by intervening dusty materials and/or the SMBH is accreting material in an inefficient manner. The bolometric luminosity of the active nucleus is ~7×1043 erg·s−1.[16]

One supernova has been observed in NGC 4102: SN 1975E (type unknown, mag. 16.7).[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b "This is no supermodel spiral". www.spacetelescope.org. ESA/Hubble. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Skrutskie, Michael F.; et al. (1 February 2006). "The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)". The Astronomical Journal. 131 (2): 1163–1183. Bibcode:2006AJ....131.1163S. doi:10.1086/498708. ISSN 0004-6256. S2CID 18913331.
  3. ^ a b c d Ann, H. B.; et al. (2015). "A Catalog of Visually Classified Galaxies in the Local (z ~ 0.01) Universe". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 217 (2): 27. arXiv:1502.03545. Bibcode:2015ApJS..217...27A. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/217/2/27. S2CID 119253507.
  4. ^ a b c Tully, R. Brent; et al. (2016). "Cosmicflows-3". The Astronomical Journal. 152 (2): 21. arXiv:1605.01765. Bibcode:2016AJ....152...50T. doi:10.3847/0004-6256/152/2/50. S2CID 250737862. 50.
  5. ^ a b c Lianou, S.; et al. (November 2019). "Dust properties and star formation of approximately a thousand local galaxies". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 631: 19. arXiv:1906.02712. Bibcode:2019A&A...631A..38L. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201834553. S2CID 174801441. A38.
  6. ^ a b c d Beck, Sara C.; et al. (October 2010). "NGC 4102: High-resolution Infrared Observations of a Nuclear Starburst Ring". The Astrophysical Journal. 722 (2): 1175–1179. arXiv:1008.1800. Bibcode:2010ApJ...722.1175B. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/722/2/1175. S2CID 118849324.
  7. ^ a b c d O'Meara, Steve (2007). Herschel 400 Observing Guide. Cambridge University Press. p. 98. ISBN 9780521858939.
  8. ^ a b c "NGC 4102". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  9. ^ a b c d "NED results for object NGC 4102". NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  10. ^ a b c d Erwin, Peter; Debattista, Victor P. (June 2013). "Peanuts at an angle: detecting and measuring the three-dimensional structure of bars in moderately inclined galaxies". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 431 (4): 3060–3086. arXiv:1301.0638. Bibcode:2013MNRAS.431.3060E. doi:10.1093/mnras/stt385.
  11. ^ a b Seligman, Courtney. "NGC 4102 (= PGC 38392)". Celestial Atlas. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
  12. ^ a b Verheijen, Marc A. W. (December 2001). "The Ursa Major Cluster of Galaxies. V. H I Rotation Curve Shapes and the Tully-Fisher Relations". The Astrophysical Journal. 563 (2): 694–715. arXiv:astro-ph/0108225. Bibcode:2001ApJ...563..694V. doi:10.1086/323887. S2CID 18676545.
  13. ^ a b "Hubble Spies Charming Spiral Galaxy Bursting with Stars". SpaceDaily. 8 December 2014.
  14. ^ a b Trent Braun, Timothy; van Zee, Liese; Richards, Emily E.; McQuinn, Kristen B.; Skillman, Evan D.; Edges (January 2015). "Detection of an Extended Outflow in NGC 4102". AAS Meeting #225. 225. American Astronomical Society. Bibcode:2015AAS...22525027T. 250.27.
  15. ^ a b c Mathur, Smita; et al. (October 2008). Finding Local Low-mass Supermassive Black Holes. Observational Evidence for Black Holes in the Universe: Proceedings of the 2nd Kolkata Conference on Observational Evidence for Black Holes in the Universe held in Kolkata India, 10-15 February 2008 and the Satellite Meeting on Black Holes, Neutron Stars, and Gamma-Ray Bursts held 16-17 February 2008. AIP Conference Proceedings. Vol. 1053. pp. 43–49. arXiv:0807.0422. Bibcode:2008AIPC.1053...43M. doi:10.1063/1.3009521.
  16. ^ a b c González-Martín, O.; et al. (March 2011). "Suzaku observation of the LINER NGC 4102". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 527: 10. arXiv:1012.3080. Bibcode:2011A&A...527A.142G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201016097. S2CID 53470087. A142.
  17. ^ Transient Name Server entry for SN 1975E. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
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