NGC 4656 and NGC 4657

{{Short description|Galaxy in constellation Canes Venatici}}

{{Infobox Galaxy

| name = NGC 4656/7

| image = Hockeystick.jpg

| image_size = 300px

| caption = NGC 4656/7. Credit: Scott Anttila.

| constellation name = Canes Venatici{{cite book

| editor=R. W. Sinnott

| title= The Complete New General Catalogue and Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters by J. L. E. Dreyer

| date=1988

| publisher=Sky Publishing Corporation and Cambridge University Press

| isbn=978-0-933346-51-2}}

| epoch = J2000

| type = SB(s)m pec{{cite web

| title=NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database

| work=Results for NGC 4656

| url=http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/

| access-date=2006-04-30}}

| ra = {{RA|12|43|57.7}}

| dec = {{DEC|+32|10|05}}

| dist_ly =

| z= 646 km/s

| appmag_v = 11.0

| size_v = 12.9{{prime}}

| size = 78,500 ly

| notes = similar to SMC

| names = UGC 7907, PGC 42863, Hockey Stick Galaxies, Crowbar Galaxy

}}

NGC 4656/57 is a highly warped edge-on{{Cite web |last=info@noirlab.edu |title=Hockey Stick Galaxy NGC 4656 |url=https://www.noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-ngc4656/ |access-date=2023-12-02 |website=www.noirlab.edu |language=en}} barred spiral galaxy located in the local universe 30 million light years away from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici.{{Cite web |last=information@eso.org |title=The Hockey Stick Galaxy |url=https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1731a/ |access-date=2023-12-02 |website=www.spacetelescope.org |language=en}} This galaxy is sometimes called the Hockey Stick Galaxy or the Crowbar Galaxy. Its unusual shape is thought to be due to an interaction between NGC 4656, NGC 4631, and NGC 4627.{{cite web|title=The Hockey Stick Galaxy|url=https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1731a/|website=www.spacetelescope.org|access-date=31 July 2017}} The galaxy is a member of the NGC 4631 Group.

A luminous blue variable in "super-outburst" was discovered in NGC 4656/57 on March 21, 2005.{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Nathan |last2=Li |first2=Weidong |last3=Silverman |first3=Jeffrey M. |last4=Ganeshalingam |first4=Mohan |last5=Filippenko |first5=Alexei V. |date=2011-07-21 |title=Luminous blue variable eruptions and related transients: diversity of progenitors and outburst properties: LBV diversity |journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |language=en |volume=415 |issue=1 |pages=773–810 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18763.x|doi-access=free |arxiv=1010.3718 }}

File:The Hockey Stick Galaxy.jpg