NGC 4438 - Pec

NGC 4438

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Type: Pec

Filter: B

Telescope: KPNO 0.9-m
North left , East down
Field Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.1 arcminutes

RC3 Type: SA:(s)0/a pec
RSA Type: Sb(tides)
Surface Brightness Range Displayed: 17.4-26.0 mag per square arcsec
Absolute Blue Magnitude: -20.6

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Description:

This greatly disturbed object in the Virgo Cluster has some very dark dust patches. Although it has a bright companion, NGC 4435 , nearby, this companion shows little sign of optical disturbance. The tidal tails in NGC 4438 are extreme, and the dust distribution is complex. Machacek, Jones, and Forman (2004) propose that NGC 4435 and NGC 4438 have suffered a high velocity, off-center collision, based on the X-ray properties of gas near the centers of the two galaxies (see also Kenney et al. 1995).