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NGC 4725 is a one-arm barred spiral galaxy located about 40 Mly away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It is considered a Seyfert type 2 galaxy hosting a supermassive black hole at its center. This galaxy is still interacting with NGC 4747 (a close neighbor but out of this image, below the lower border) which is responsible for the distortion that we witness on NGC 4725. Interestingly, and out this interaction, a TDG has been formed. In some circumstances, tidal tails composed of millions of stars, that have been slingshot by the gravitational encounters between galaxies, can form small Tidal Dwarf Galaxies (TDGs) that can have an independent existence by themselves. In 2018, K. Lee-Waddell et al. determined that the tidal tail flying away from both NGC 4747 and NGC 4725 had formed an independent TDG (or as gravitationally independent as it can be).
The galaxy at its upper left is NGC 4712, a spiral galaxy physically unrelated to NGC 4725.
This image is part of an ongoing joint project with Christian Sasse.
Additional Information
Object
Name(s): NGC 4725
Type: Barred Spiral Galaxy
RA: 12h 50m 27s
Dec: +25º 30’ 03”
Constellation: Coma Berenices
Size (arcmin): 10×7 arcmin
Magnitude: +10.1
Distance: 40.1 Mly
Image
Date: 2023-04-13 to 2023-04-18
Location: Curiosity2 Observatory, New Mexico Skies, Mayhill, NM, USA
Size (arcmin): 25×20 arcmin
Telescope: 24” (61 cm) f/6.5 Reflector
Camera: FLI PL16803 (4096x4096pix)
Guiding: Astrodon MonsterMOAG off-axis guider
Total exposure: 14h 40m (L: 5h 40m; RGB: 9h)
Processing: CCDStack, PixInsight (one step) and Photoshop CC 2023