NGC 4579 - SAB(rs)ab

NGC 4579

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Type: SAB(rs)ab

Filter: B

Telescope: McGraw-Hill 1.3-m
North up , East left
Field Dimensions: 5.3 x 4.9 arcminutes

RC3 Type: SAB(rs)b
RSA Type: Sab(s)II
Surface Brightness Range Displayed: 17.0-26.0 mag per square arcsec
Absolute Blue Magnitude: -20.8
Elmegreen Spiral Arm Class: AC 9

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Description:

This galaxy is an excellent example of its type. The bar is well enough defined to merit underlining the B in SAB. The bar shows a complex dust distribution but leading dust lanes can be recognized. The spiral structure is rather ill-defined and includes a weak, lightly patchy inner pseudoring . We underline the s in (rs) since the feature is very open. The arms further out do not form an outer pseudoring , and the general background disk light is very strong. We classify the galaxy as Sab because of its general smooth texture and only light patchiness, and the tightness of its spiral arms.

NGC 4579 is another example in the Atlas of a galaxy having a truncated star-forming disk of reasonably normal normalized massive star formation rate (Koopmann and Kenney 2004).