NGC 4216


NGC 4216 is a metal-rich intermediate spiral galaxy located not far from the center of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, roughly 55 million light-years away. It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on 17 April 1784.

Physical characteristics

Seen nearly edge-on, NGC 4216 is one of the largest and brightest spiral galaxies of the Virgo Cluster, with an absolute magnitude that has been estimated to be −22, and like most spiral galaxies of this cluster shows a deficiency of neutral hydrogen that is concentrated within the galaxy's optical disk and has a low surface density for a galaxy of its type. This explains why NGC 4216 is considered an anemic galaxy by some authors, also with a low star formation activity for a galaxy of its type. In fact, the galaxy's disk shows pillar-like structures that may have been caused by interactions with the intracluster medium of Virgo and/or with nearby galaxies.
In NGC 4216's halo, besides a rich system of globular clusters estimated to number around 700, List of stellar streams#Streams beyond [the Local Group|two stellar streams] that are interpreted as two satellite galaxies being disrupted and absorbed by this galaxy are present.
NGC 4216 seems to be in a place of the Virgo cluster where dwarf galaxies are being destroyed/accreted at a high rate, with it suffering many interactions with these types of galaxies.
One supernova has been observed in NGC 4216: SN 2024gy was discovered by Kōichi Itagaki on 4 January 2024.
NGC 4216, along with NGC 4206, NGC 4222, and IC 771, are listed together as Holm 353 in Erik Holmberg's A Study of Double and Multiple Galaxies Together with Inquiries into some General Metagalactic Problems, published in 1937.