IC 4182

Right Ascension	13 : 05.8 (h:m)
Declination	+37 : 36 (deg:m)
Distance	(kly)
Visual brightness	11.4 (mag)
Dimension	4.8 x 4.1 (arc min)

Discovered by Max Wolf in 1904 and cataloged as W. V.216.

Quite an inconspicuous irregular galaxy in Canes Venatici, IC 4182 became famous because it produced supernova 1937C, a supernova of type Ia on August 24, 1937. This supernova was discovered by Fritz Zwicky 30"E and 40"N of the galaxy's nucleus and became as bright as 8.4m, three magnitudes or about a factor 16 brighter than its parent galaxy! As supernovae of its type, Ia, are supposed to have maxima in a narrow band of absolute brightness or intrinsic luminosity, it was used as an important standard candle for attempts to gauge the cosmic distance scale.

The image in our page was obtained with the Kitt Peak National Observatory's 2.1-meter telescope in 1992, by Mike Pierce and Gorge Jacobi. It is a combination of three monochrome images taken through filters in red, green and blue light.