NGC 4754 & NGC 4762 -- Galaxies in Virgo
A Paper-Thin Galaxy
Less than 2-degrees west of the bright star Vindeminatrix (Epsilon Virginis) is the interesting
Lenticular Galaxy NGC 4762. It has been claimed that it is the flattest galaxy known. I am not
sure that is true since there are lots of galaxies out there, but it is the thinnest that I have ever
seen. It is the perfect edge-on galaxy. I was not sure I would be able to see it with the refractor
from my backyard since it is so thin, but surprisingly, it was not as difficult as I had feared.
NGC 4762 is paired with NGC 4754 another Lenticular Galaxy of about the same brightness,
but it was the thin one that I was really after. I had saved it for the last object for this observing
session and it did not disappoint. The drawing circle is the eyepiece view at 84x. I used 232x
to extract details within the two galaxies. Both had condensed cores which showed well at high
power.
Lenticular Galaxy NGC 4762. It has been claimed that it is the flattest galaxy known. I am not
sure that is true since there are lots of galaxies out there, but it is the thinnest that I have ever
seen. It is the perfect edge-on galaxy. I was not sure I would be able to see it with the refractor
from my backyard since it is so thin, but surprisingly, it was not as difficult as I had feared.
NGC 4762 is paired with NGC 4754 another Lenticular Galaxy of about the same brightness,
but it was the thin one that I was really after. I had saved it for the last object for this observing
session and it did not disappoint. The drawing circle is the eyepiece view at 84x. I used 232x
to extract details within the two galaxies. Both had condensed cores which showed well at high
power.