Right ascension 12 43 42.6 Redshift 1046 ± 5 km/s Group or cluster Virgo Cluster Magnitude 12 Apparent magnitude (V) 12 | Declination +13° 07′ 36″ Distance 55.0 Mly Type SAB(rs)cd Constellation Virgo | |
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Similar NGC 4535, NGC 4639, NGC 4762, NGC 4666, NGC 4698 | ||
NGC 4654 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation of Virgo at a distance of 55 million light years (16.8 megaparsecs) from the Milky Way that can be spotted with amateur telescopes.
Physical characteristics
NGC 4654 is a member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies that shows peculiarities in the distribution of both its atomic hydrogen and molecular hydrogen as well as an assimetry on the distribution of its stars, with the atomic hydrogen being compressed in the galaxy's northwestern part and forming a tail on its southeastern part. While interactions with Virgo's intracluster medium -that is stripping NGC 4654 of its gas as the galaxy moves through it- can explain its gas distribution, its unable to explain the peculiarities on the distribution of its stars, having been proposed that NGC 4654 interacted with its neighbor the spiral galaxy NGC 4639 500 million years ago producing this event the latter phenomenon, while experimenting until the present day weak ram-pressure stripping due to its motion within the Virgo cluster
Despite suffering a loss of its neutral gas, NGC 4654 does not suffer the deficiency of it that show many spiral galaxies of the Virgo cluster and also has the star formation typical for a galaxy of its type