astronomy

NGC 4017

NGC 4017 is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand NGC 4017 rather than just read about it. In short: NGC 4017 is an intermediate spiral radio galaxy located in the constellation Coma Berenices. Its speed relative to the cosmic microwave background is 3,748 ± 21 km/s, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of 55.3 ± 3.9 Mpc (~180 million ly).

Key takeaways

NGC 4017 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect NGC 4017 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of NGC 4017 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

NGC 4017 is an intermediate spiral radio galaxy located in the constellation Coma Berenices. Its speed relative to the cosmic microwave background is 3,748 ± 21 km/s, which corresponds to a Hubble distance of 55.3 ± 3.9 Mpc (~180 million ly). NGC 4017 was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on April 11, 1785. It is difficult to see a bar in the center of NGC 4017 in the image obtained from the SDSS survey data. The intermediate spiral classification from the NASA/IPAC database seems to fit this galaxy better. The luminosity class of NGC 4017 is II-III and it has a broad HI line. To date, four non-redshift measurements yield a distance of 73.850 ± 14.580 Mpc (~241 million ly), which is just outside the Hubble distance values. Note, however, that it is with the average value of independent measurements, when they exist, that the NASA/IPAC database calculates the diameter of a galaxy and that consequently the diameter of NGC 4017 could be approximately 29.3 kpc (~95,600 ly) if we used the Hubble distance to calculate it.

Supernovae Three supernovae have been discovered in NGC 4017:

SN 2006st (Type II, mag. 18.3) was discovered by D. Winslow and W. Li as part of LOSS (Lick Observatory Supernova Search) on May 30, 2006. SN 2007an (Type II, mag. 17.5) was discovered by Marco Migliardi on March 10, 2007, in an image taken at the Drusci observatory in the Italian town of Cortina d'Ampezzo. SN 2025acru (Type I, mag. 19.2806) was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility on October 29, 2025.

NGC 4017 Group According to A.M. Garcia, the galaxy NGC 4017 is part of a group of galaxies that bears his name. The NGC 4017 group has four members. The other members of the group are NGC 4004, NGC 4008 and NGC 4016. Abraham Mahtessian also mentions a group of which NGC 4008 is a part, but there are only three galaxies in his list, NGC 4017 not appearing there. On the other hand, it is surprising that the galaxy IC 2982 to the west of NGC 4004 does not appear in either list. The distance separating it from the Milky Way is 53.86 ± 3.78 Mpc (~176 million ly), practically the same as that of NGC 4004. This galaxy is even designated as NGC 4004B by the database NASA/IPAC We could even say that the two galaxies form an interacting pair given the deformation of NGC 4004. This is undoubtedly why the two galaxies are included in the catalog of Vorontsov-Velyaminov interacting galaxies. The galaxies NGC 4016 and NGC 4017 are almost the same distance from the Milky Way and are neighbors in the celestial sphere. The image obtained from the SDSS study data shows a certain deformation in the galaxy NGC 4016. These two galaxies are surely in gravitational interaction and they also appear in the catalog of Vorontsov-Velyaminov interacting galaxies. They also appear in Halton Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies under the designation Arp 305. Halton Arp notes that one of the arms of NGC 4016 has a broken segment.

See also List of spiral galaxies List of NGC objects (4001–5000) Radio galaxy

External links NGC 4017 at NASA/IPAC NGC 4017 at SIMBAD NGC 4017 at LEDA

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with NGC 4017

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what NGC 4017 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to NGC 4017 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about NGC 4017 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of NGC 4017

In research: NGC 4017 appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses NGC 4017 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: NGC 4017 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Coma Berenices, Discoveries by William Herschel, NGC objects, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for NGC 4017 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study NGC 4017 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what NGC 4017 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain NGC 4017 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is NGC 4017 in simple terms?

Why does NGC 4017 matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study NGC 4017?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on NGC 4017.