NGC 4395

From NASA: NGC 4395 has a very low surface brightness, meaning it is diffuse and emits less light than normal galaxies. Sitting about 14 million light-years away from Earth, this spiral is also a Seyfert galaxy, or a galaxy that has a very bright core. NGC 4395 is one of the closest and dimmest known Seyfert galaxies. It is located near the constellation Canes Venatici.

Seyfert galaxies contain active galactic nuclei, or AGNs, powered by supermassive black holes. AGNs are extremely bright, as radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum is produced as the black hole devours material that gets too close to it. Seyfert galaxies are distinct from other types of AGNs because the galaxy surrounding the black hole is detectable. The brightness of AGNs can often wash out the glow of their host galaxies. The galactic nucleus in NGC 4395 has a comparably low luminosity to other AGNs and the black hole is about 10,000 times the mass of our Sun!

NGC 4395, a dwarf galaxy, is also a unique Seyfert galaxy due to its lack of galactic bulge, the tightly packed group of stars often found at the center of a galaxy. Some believe this is due to the black hole already consuming most of the galactic core.

Imagers Notes: I didn’t get a lot of time on this target and it shows. Imaged for 2 nights in April, I sat on this data hoping to get some more time on target, but the skies have moved on. Between the weather and smoke from forest fires creating a haze in early July, I decided to do my best and complete the processing of this image set.