De Vaucouleurs Atlas Type: SB(rs)0/a

Filter: B

Telescope: NOT 2.5-m
North up , East left
Field Dimensions: 5.9 x 5.8 arcminutes

RC3 Type: SB(r)0⁺
RSA Type: SBa (very early)
Surface Brightness Range Displayed: 17.5-26.0 mag per square arcsec
Absolute Blue Magnitude: -19.6

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Description:

This galaxy is an excellent example of its type. The bar is exceptionally strong and has bright ansae . Two diffuse spiral arms break from the ends of the bar and form a well-defined inner pseudoring. These arms continue further out and fade rapidly in the bright outer disk. A faint arc on the northwest side could be due to dust.

NGC 4596 is one of the first galaxies to have had its bar pattern speed measured directly using the Tremaine and Weinberg (1984) continuity equation method. Gerssen, Kuijken, and Merrifield (1999) derived a pattern speed of 52 +/- 13 km/s/kpc, which places corotation just beyond the bar ends. They conclude that NGC 4596 has a ``fast bar", which implies the galaxy is ``maximum disk" in the bar region (Debattista and Sellwood 1998).