NGC 4526

NGC 4526 (also listed as NGC 4560) is a lenticular galaxy with an embedded dusty disc, located approximately 55 million light-years from the Solar System in the Virgo constellation and discovered on 13 April 1784 by William Herschel.

The galaxy is seen nearly edge-on. The morphological classification is SAB(s)0°, which indicates a lenticular structure with a weak bar across the center and pure spiral arms without a ring. It belongs to the Virgo cluster and is one of the brightest known lenticular galaxies. In the galaxy's outer halo, globular cluster orbital velocities indicate abnormal poverty of dark matter: only 43±18% of the mass within 5 effective radii.

The inner nucleus of this galaxy displays a rise in stellar orbital motion that indicates the presence of a central dark mass. The best fit model for the motion of molecular gas in the core region suggests there is a supermassive black hole with about $55 Mly$ (450 million) times the mass of the Sun. This is the first object to have its black-hole mass estimated by measuring the rotation of gas molecules around its centre with an astronomical interferometer (in this case the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy).

Supernova SN 1969E was discovered in this galaxy in 1969, reaching a peak magnitude of 16. In 1994, a type Ia supernova was discovered about two weeks before reaching peak brightness. Designated SN 1994D, it was caused by the explosion of a white dwarf star composed of carbon and oxygen.