NGC 4933A, NGC 4933B and 4933C (aka Arp 176)
Three Galaxies in Virgo

This triplet of Galaxies in Virgo consists of an interacting and possibly merging pair, plus a non-interacting irregular galaxy (NGC 4933C). This latter galaxy is similar to the Milky Way's two companion galaxies the "Magellanic Clouds". NGC 4933A contains a prominent dust lane that is a feature of some elliptical galaxies. This is a very compact system and all three of these galaxies would fit inside of the Milky Way. NGC 4933 is included in Arp’s catalog of unusual galaxies as ARP 176.

There is also a dim background galaxy in the lower right hand corner of the Kopernik image.

Using the red shift data from the “NASA Extra-galactic Data Base(NED)”, (and a Hubble Constant of 62 Km per sec., per Megaparsec), one can calculate a rough distance estimate of 163 million light years for this galaxy group.

NGC 4933A (ARP 176) Magnitude: 13.1 Constellation: Virgo RA: 13h 03m 57.3s Dec: -11° 29' 49" Epoch 2000 Size (mins): 1.8' x 1.1' Classification: Lenticular, peculiar Deep Sky Field Guide:        "Bright globular nucleus with strong dark lane, smooth nebulosity. Interacting with NGC 4933B."	NGC 4933B (ARP 176) Magnitude: 13.4 RA: 13h 03m 54.8s Dec: -11° 30' 20" Epoch 2000 Size (mins): 0.9' x 0.8' Classification: Elliptical, peculiar Deep Sky Field Guide:     "Very bright nucleus; bright asymmetrical extensions."
NGC 4933C (ARP 176) Magnitude: 18.5 RA: 13h 03m 55.4s Dec: -11° 30' 05" Epoch 2000 Size (mins): 0.5' x 0.4' Classification: Magellanic type Irregular Galaxy, peculiar

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George Normandin, KAS

May 29th, 2001