HICKSON | NAME | SIZE (M) | MAG (V) | SB |
61a | NGC 4169 | 1.8X0.9 | 12.2 | 12.6 |
61b | NGC 4173 | 5.0X0.7 | 13.0 | 14.2 |
61c | NGC 4175 | 1.8X0.4 | 13.2 | 12.6 |
61d | NGC 4174 | 0.8X0.3 | 13.3 | 11.7 |
Hickson 61 is situated in the northwest corner of Coma Berenices and consists of a remarkably symmetric quartet of NGC galaxies forming a nearly perfect rectangle with dimensions of 2.5'x1.0'. The brightest member, NGC 4169, is a high surface brightness lenticular oriented NNW-SSE while NGC 4173 and NGC 4175 are virtually collinear edge-on streaks on the east side of the "box". The smallest member, NGC 4174, contains a prominent compact core. - Steve Gottlieb