NGC 4203

NGC 4203
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Coma Berenices
Right ascension 12h 15m 05.0s[1]
Declination +33° 11 50[1]
Redshift 0.003620[2]
Helio radial velocity 1,083[3] km/s
Galactocentric velocity 1,093[3] km/s
Distance 49.84 ± 0.46 Mly (15.28 ± 0.14 Mpc)[3]
Apparent magnitude (V) 11.99[4]
Apparent magnitude (B) 12.98[4]
Characteristics
Type SAB0−[5]
Apparent size (V) 2.467′ × 2.319′[6]
Other designations
2MASX J12150502+3311500, LEDA 39158, UGC 7256, UZC J121505.0+331152, Z 187-29 .[7]

NGC 4203 is the New General Catalogue identifier for a lenticular galaxy in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices. It was discovered on March 20, 1787 by English astronomer William Herschel,[8] and is situated 5.5° to the northwest of the 4th magnitude star Gamma Comae Berenices and can be viewed with a small telescope.[9] The morphological classification of NGC 4203 is SAB0−,[5] indicating that it has a lenticular form with tightly wound spiral arms and a weak bar structure at the nucleus.[10]

This galaxy has a fairly large reservoir of neutral hydrogen containing on the order of a billion solar masses (M), but it is only undergoing a low rate of new star formation. Hence, the inner star formation of the galaxy is fairly old; roughly ten billion years on average. The neutral hydrogen is arranged in two ring-like structures, with the outer ring having nine times the mass of the inner. In the central region there is around 2.5×107 M of molecular hydrogen, plus dust structures within 980 ly (300 pc) of the nucleus. The gas in the outer disk may have been accreted from the inter-galactic medium, or captured during a close encounter with a dwarf galaxy.[11]

The nucleus of the galaxy contains a low-ionization nuclear emission-line region of type 1.9. This is being generated by a supermassive black hole of an estimated (6±1)×107 M. An influx of gas of around 2×10−2 M/yr is sufficient to explain the measured X-ray luminosity. The time-varying emissions from the region are perhaps best explained by an infalling asymptotic giant branch star that is losing mass to the black hole along a contrail.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 Myers, S. T.; et al. (May 2003), "The Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey - I. Source selection and observations", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 341 (1): 1−12, arXiv:astro-ph/0211073Freely accessible, Bibcode:2003MNRAS.341....1M, doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2003.06256.x.
  2. Kochanek, C. S.; et al. (October 2001), "The K-Band Galaxy Luminosity Function", The Astrophysical Journal, 560 (2): 566−579, arXiv:astro-ph/0011456Freely accessible, Bibcode:2001ApJ...560..566K, doi:10.1086/322488.
  3. 1 2 3 Tully, R. Brent; et al. (October 2013), "Cosmicflows-2: The Data", The Astronomical Journal, 146 (4): 25, arXiv:1307.7213Freely accessible, Bibcode:2013AJ....146...86T, doi:10.1088/0004-6256/146/4/86, 86.
  4. 1 2 Véron-Cetty, M.-P.; Véron, P. (July 2010), "A catalogue of quasars and active nuclei", Astronomy and Astrophysics (13th ed.), 518: A10, Bibcode:2010A&A...518A..10V, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201014188.
  5. 1 2 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:1301.0638Freely accessible, Bibcode:2013MNRAS.431.3060E, doi:10.1093/mnras/stt385.
  6. Skrutskie, M. F.; et al. (February 2006), "The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)", Astrophysical Journal, 131 (2): 1163–1183, Bibcode:2006AJ....131.1163S, doi:10.1086/498708.
  7. "NGC 4203 -- LINER-type Active Galaxy Nucleus", SIMBAD Astronomical Database, Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg, retrieved 2016-01-03.
  8. Seligman, Courtney (November 23, 2012), "NGC Objects: NGC 4200 - 4249", Celestial Atlas, retrieved 2015-01-04.
  9. O'Meara, Steve (2007), Herschel 400 Observing Guide, Cambridge University Press, p. 190, ISBN 0521858933.
  10. de Vaucouleurs, G.; et al. (1991), Third reference catalogue of bright galaxies, version 9, New York: Springer-Verlag, Bibcode:1994AJ....108.2128C, doi:10.1086/117225, retrieved 2015-11-25.
  11. Yıldız, Mustafa K.; et al. (July 2015), "Star formation in the outer regions of the early-type galaxy NGC 4203", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 451 (1): 103–113, arXiv:1505.02981Freely accessible, Bibcode:2015MNRAS.451..103Y, doi:10.1093/mnras/stv992.
  12. Devereux, Nick (December 2011), "Time Variable Broad-line Emission in NGC 4203: Evidence for Stellar Contrails", The Astrophysical Journal, 743 (1): 10, arXiv:1106.4790Freely accessible, Bibcode:2011ApJ...743...83D, doi:10.1088/0004-637X/743/1/83, 83.
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