NGC 4490, also known as theCocoon Galaxy, is abarred spiral galaxy in the constellationCanes Venatici. It was discovered by German-British astronomerWilliam Herschel on 14 January 1788.[2] It is known to be of the closest interacting/merging galactic system. The galaxy lies at a distance of 25 millionlight years from Earth making it located in the localuniverse. It interacts with its smaller companionNGC 4485 and as a result is astarburst galaxy. NGC 4490 and NGC 4485 are collectively known in theAtlas of Peculiar Galaxies as Arp 269. The two galaxies have already made their closest approach and are rushing away from each other. It has been discovered that NGC 4490 has a double nucleus.[3]
Astellar stream 25,000 light years long connects the twointeracting galaxies. The stellar stream is made of bright knots and largegas rich pockets. Young blue hot massivestars are formed in this region.[6]
^Pawlowski, Marcel S.; Müller, Oliver; Taibi, Salvatore; Júlio, Mariana P.; Kanehisa, Kosuke Jamie; Heesters, Nick (2024). "The satellite galaxy plane of NGC 4490 in light of ΛCDM".Astronomy & Astrophysics.688: A153.arXiv:2405.06016.Bibcode:2024A&A...688A.153P.doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202449954.
^"AT2011kp".Transient Name Server.IAU. Retrieved20 April 2025.
^Mostardi, R.; Li, W.; Filippenko, A. V. (2008). "Possible Supernova in NGC 4490".Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams (1280): 1.Bibcode:2008CBET.1280....1M.
^Nakano, S. (2008). "Supernova 2008ax in NGC 4490".Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams (1286): 1.Bibcode:2008CBET.1286....1N.
![Extreme tidal forces have carved out the shapes and properties of NGC 4490.[15]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aResult_of_a_galactic_crash.jpg)
