AP#54 : NGC 4725
Name: The "Tie Fighter" galaxy
Constellation:Coma Bernices
Instrument: 8-inch F5 reflector with sky watcher coma corrector and a ZWO ASI 2600 MC (Gain 100 -20C).
Exposure time: A stack of 40 three-minute exposures.
Star Chart from Michael Vlasov's Deep sky hunter star atlas available on line https://www.deepskywatch.com/deep-sky-hunter-atlas.html
Magnitude: 10.1
Angular size: 9.8' X 6.8'
NGC 4725 is an intermediate barred spiral galaxy with ring structure surrounding it. It also has a super massive black hole at the center, which results in its interaction with neighboring NGC 4747 (lower left). The ring structure is a star forming region and gives it the name because it looks like Darth Vader's tie fighter from "A new hope". The galaxy is just under the 10' of arc limit but the appearance of the galaxy results in it being placed on the list. To the upper left is NGC 4712, which is more distant then NGC 4725 and its proximity is just a case of an optical alignment.
