NGC 4731

Alt. Designations:

NGC 4731

Object Type:

barred spiral galaxy

Constellation:

Virgo

Distance:

65 mly

Right Ascension:

12h 51m 01.0s

Declination:

-06° 23´ 33"

Visual Magnitude:

11.5

Apparent Dimension:

6.6´ X 4.2´

Best Month To View:

Apr

Barred spiral galaxy NGC 4731 lies some 65 million light-years away in the large Virgo cluster of galaxies. Its broad spiral arms are distorted by gravitational interaction with a fellow Virgo cluster member, giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4697. NGC 4731 is well over 100,000 light-years across. NGC 4731A can be seen near the bottom of this frame.