# NGC 4564
**NGC 4564** is a lenticular (S0) galaxy in the Virgo cluster, cataloged by [William Herschel](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-herschel) in 1784 and long classified as an elliptical galaxy before photometric and kinematic studies showed it contains a prominent stellar disc.[1](https://objekty.astro.cz/ngc4564) • [2](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/467/4/4540/3002592) It lies at coordinates 12h 36m 26.9s, +11° 26' 21" (J2000) in the constellation Virgo, has a visual magnitude of 11, and spans about 3.1 by 1.4 arcminutes on the sky.[1](https://objekty.astro.cz/ngc4564)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Discovery | William Herschel, 1784, with a 45.7-cm reflector[1](https://objekty.astro.cz/ngc4564) |
| Position | 12h 36m 26.9s, +11° 26' 21" (J2000), constellation Virgo[1](https://objekty.astro.cz/ngc4564) |
| Morphology | Listed as E6 in RC3 and RSA, but reclassified as S0 after bulge–disc separation was identified[2](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/467/4/4540/3002592) |
| Cluster membership | Virgo cluster, recession velocity about 1080 km/s[3](https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Harris/Harris2.html) |
| Kinematics | Major-axis rotation plateaus at ~140 km/s at 20 arcsec, then declines to ~0 km/s at 180 arcsec[4](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/394/3/1249/1065074) |
| Central black hole | 5.6(+0.3, −0.7) × 107 solar masses, from stellar dynamics with a velocity dispersion of 162 km/s[5](https://astronomy.nmsu.edu/nicole/teaching/ASTR500_2006S/papers/gebhardt.pdf) |
| Supernova | Hosted SN 1961H, discovered by the Italian amateur astronomer Giuliano Romano[6](https://www.coelum.com/articoli/storia-astronomia/le-supernovae-extragalattiche-piu-luminose-ed-importanti-della-storia-sn1961h-in-ngc4564) |
## Reclassification from elliptical to lenticular
The galaxy was listed as type E6 in the RC3 and RSA catalogs, and a planetary-nebula kinematics survey described it as an E4 galaxy in the Virgo cluster.[2](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/467/4/4540/3002592) • [4](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/394/3/1249/1065074) Several independent lines of evidence converged on a different classification. Michard & Marchal (1994) noted clear bulge–disc separation in the photometry and strong disciness. Trujillo and colleagues, using [Hubble Space Telescope](https://www.edgepedia.org/hubble-space-telescope) imaging in a study of elliptical galaxies, found that the features that had looked elliptical were actually disc features. Kormendy and colleagues (2009) showed that the brightness profile has a two-component bulge-plus-disc structure and found very discy distortions in the a4 profile, a measure of whether galaxy isophotes are discy or boxy.[2](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/467/4/4540/3002592) On this basis the [SLUGGS](https://www.edgepedia.org/sages-legacy-unifying-globulars-and-galaxies-survey) survey authors state there is consensus that NGC 4564 was originally misclassified as an elliptical, and they treat it as an S0 galaxy.[2](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/467/4/4540/3002592) An HST-based study of Virgo ellipticals had already placed it among the disky, high-central-surface-brightness systems rather than the true, disk-free ellipticals.[7](https://adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1994AJ....108.1598F)
## Stellar and planetary-nebula kinematics
A planetary-nebula survey detected 49 planetary nebulae (PNe) in NGC 4564, 38 of them outside 2 effective radii, and found their radial distribution consistent with the extrapolated Sérsic fit to the starlight.[4](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/394/3/1249/1065074) The two-dimensional velocity field shows a steep central velocity gradient parallel to the photometric major axis, and the kinematic and photometric major axes are aligned.[4](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/394/3/1249/1065074)
The quantitative profiles are distinctive. The combined major-axis rotation curve, joining stellar data to the PNe measurements, reaches a plateau of about 140 km/s at 20 arcsec and then declines from 50 arcsec to nearly 0 km/s at 180 arcsec. The velocity dispersion falls from a central value of 180 km/s to about 70 km/s at 20 arcsec, then declines slowly to roughly 30 km/s at 150–200 arcsec. The authors note that this major-axis rotation curve resembles that of an S0 galaxy rather than that of an elliptical.[4](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/394/3/1249/1065074) Later work combining PN data with earlier surveys extended the kinematics beyond 6 effective radii, where the galaxy still rotates clearly along its photometric major axis at about 95 km/s, with the dispersion declining from the central 180 km/s peak to about 70 km/s at 6 effective radii.[8](https://openaccess.inaf.it/server/api/core/bitstreams/b54452fa-15aa-468e-93fa-87b60c7f0fa5/content) In the ATLAS3D census of stellar angular momentum, NGC 4564 appears as a fast rotator, with λR about 0.56 within the effective radius.[9](https://www.tempodimare.com/?_=%2F10.1111%2Fj.1365-2966.2011.18496.x%23nIKhFiPUZajuawxBiTCv)
## Globular clusters and mass
The galaxy has a rich globular cluster system for its luminosity: a Virgo compilation lists about 1200 ± 400 globular clusters and a specific frequency of 8.5 ± 3.0, the number of clusters normalized to the galaxy's V-band luminosity, with the galaxy then still typed as E6.[3](https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Harris/Harris2.html)
Stellar-dynamical modeling places a supermassive black hole of 5.6(+0.3, −0.7) × 107 solar masses at the center, based on a line-of-sight velocity dispersion of 162 km/s and a distance of about 15 Mpc in the Gebhardt et al. (2000) sample that established the black hole mass–velocity dispersion relation.[5](https://astronomy.nmsu.edu/nicole/teaching/ASTR500_2006S/papers/gebhardt.pdf) Later compilations of black hole measurements give a consistent value of about 6.9 × 107 solar masses for the same galaxy.[10](https://www.as.utexas.edu/~gebhardt/blackhole.html)
## SN 1961H
NGC 4564 hosted SN 1961H, discovered on 9 May 1961 by the Italian amateur astronomer Giuliano Romano; the discovery was announced in IAU Circular 1759 dated 16 May 1961. [The Italian](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-italian) astronomy magazine Coelum describes it as the most luminous supernova discovered by an Italian. Archival plates from the Asiago Observatory include a Schmidt-telescope image dated 2 May 1961 and a 122-cm Galileo telescope image taken on 18 June 1961 by Francesco Bertola on Kodak 103a-O film with a 40-minute exposure.[6](https://www.coelum.com/articoli/storia-astronomia/le-supernovae-extragalattiche-piu-luminose-ed-importanti-della-storia-sn1961h-in-ngc4564)
## Catalog designations
Besides the NGC entry, the galaxy carries the identifiers UGC 7773, MCG+02-32-150, CGCG 070.186, VCC 1664 (its Virgo Cluster Catalog number), and PGC 42051, along with the older designations GC 3105, h 1356, and H II 68 from the Herschel-era catalogs.[1](https://objekty.astro.cz/ngc4564)
## References
1. [NGC 4564 object data, NGC/IC Project data at objekty.astro.cz](https://objekty.astro.cz/ngc4564)
2. [SLUGGS survey: using extended stellar kinematics to disentangle the formation histories of low-mass S0 galaxies, MNRAS 467, 4540 (2017)](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/467/4/4540/3002592)
3. [Globular Cluster Systems in Galaxies Beyond the Local Group, NASA/IPAC Level 5 (Harris)](https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Harris/Harris2.html)
4. [Kinematic properties of early-type galaxy haloes using planetary nebulae, MNRAS 394, 1249 (2009)](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/394/3/1249/1065074)
5. [A Relationship Between Nuclear Black Hole Mass and Galaxy Velocity Dispersion, ApJ 539, L13 (2000)](https://astronomy.nmsu.edu/nicole/teaching/ASTR500_2006S/papers/gebhardt.pdf)
6. [Le supernovae extragalattiche più luminose ed importanti della storia: SN1961H in NGC4564, Coelum Astronomia](https://www.coelum.com/articoli/storia-astronomia/le-supernovae-extragalattiche-piu-luminose-ed-importanti-della-storia-sn1961h-in-ngc4564)
7. [Ferrarese et al., Virgo Cluster Ellipticals III, The Astronomical Journal 108, 1598 (1994)](https://adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1994AJ....108.1598F)
8. [INAF open access: A&A 618, A94 (2018), planetary nebula kinematics paper](https://openaccess.inaf.it/server/api/core/bitstreams/b54452fa-15aa-468e-93fa-87b60c7f0fa5/content)
9. [ATLAS3D project III: census of stellar angular momentum in early-type galaxies, MNRAS (2011)](https://www.tempodimare.com/?_=%2F10.1111%2Fj.1365-2966.2011.18496.x%23nIKhFiPUZajuawxBiTCv)
10. [Black Hole Mass Estimates, K. Gebhardt, University of Texas](https://www.as.utexas.edu/~gebhardt/blackhole.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Astronomy › Stars and galaxies › Galaxies and large-scale structure › Named galaxies and the Local Group › Named galaxies (general and lists)*
*Initially written Oct 15, 2026*
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