NGC 4402


NGC 4402 is a relatively near, edge-on spiral galaxy located around 50 million light-years from Earth. It is in the constellation of Virgo within the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. It can be seen when viewing Markarian's Chain.
NGC 4402 is roughly 55 thousand light-years wide and is moving away from Earth at around 232 kilometers per second. It is falling into the Virgo galaxy cluster. Images show evidence that the material it once contained to enable it to form stars has been stripped away in a process known as "ram-pressure stripping". This is due to NGC 4402's cooler gasses being struck by hot x-ray gasses coming from the middle of the Virgo galaxy cluster as it moves toward it. The evidence is as follows:
The supernova SN 1976B was observed in NGC 4402 in 1976.

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