NGC 4874

NGC 4874 is a supergiant elliptical galaxy in the constellation of Coma Berenices. It was discovered on 11 April 1785 by German-British astronomer William Herschel, who catalogued it as a bright patch of nebulous feature. The second-brightest galaxy within the northern Coma Cluster, it is located at a distance of about 97 megaparsecs from Earth.

Characteristics

The galaxy is surrounded by an immense stellar halo that extends up to one million light-years in diameter. It is also enveloped by a huge cloud of interstellar medium that is currently being heated by the action of infalling material from its central supermassive black hole. A jet of highly energetic plasma extends out to 1,700 light-years from its center. The galaxy has globular clusters.

Supernovae

Three supernovae have been observed in NGC 4874:

SN 1968B was discovered by Fritz Zwicky on 3 February 1968.
SN 1981G was discovered by Miklós Lovas on 2 June 1981.
SN 2025ilo was discovered by A. Horti-David, K. Sarneczky, and J. Vinko on 26 April 2025.