NGC 4771: A Slender Spiral in Virgo’s Deep Sky
Seen edge-on against a rich field of background galaxies, NGC 4771 is a barred spiral galaxy located about 56 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo.
Appearing as a thin, glowing spindle of light, the galaxy stretches roughly 3.5 by 0.8 arcminutes, corresponding to an actual size of about 57,000 by 13,000 light-years.
While its orientation conceals the full spiral structure, the edge-on view reveals an intricate midplane: a dense, mottled dust lane runs along the disk, splitting the central bulge and giving the galaxy a sense of layered depth. Subtle blue tones hint at young stars embedded within the thin stellar disk, while the bright, golden core marks a more evolved population.
NGC 4771 belongs to the NGC 4753 Group, part of the Virgo II Cloud—an extended structure within the outskirts of the Virgo Supercluster. Its flattened, undisturbed disk suggests a dynamically calm environment, showing no signs of recent interaction or tidal disruption.
Framing the galaxy is a background teeming with faint, distant galaxies—spirals, ellipticals, and edge-ons that dot the sky like a deep cosmological tapestry. Their presence offers a striking contrast to the clean silhouette of NGC 4771 in the foreground.
Though modest in size, NGC 4771 stands out for its finely structured disk and serene symmetry—a quiet spiral holding its shape amid the vast gravitational architecture of the Virgo region.
Imaged in LRGB on my Planewave CDK 1000 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Image acquisition and processing: Mike Selby