page_title: NGC 4302
section_title: Physical characteristics
hierarchical_section_title: NGC 4302 / Physical characteristics
caption_attribution_description: English: Color rendering is done by by Aladin-software (2000A&amp;AS..143...33B.)
context_page_description: NGC 4302 is an edge-on spiral galaxy located about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on April 8, 1784 and is a member of the Virgo Cluster.
  It is classified as a Seyfert galaxy and as a LINER galaxy. It also has a prominent, extended dust lane.
context_section_description: The disk of NGC 4302 contains extraplanar dust that is organized into filamentary structures and large dust complexes. The apparent bending of many of the large complexes toward the north of the galaxy appears to be due to an interaction with the intracluster medium caused by the motion of NGC 4302 as it falls into the Virgo Cluster. 
  The dense, dusty matter in the disk of NGC 4302 appears to be largely tracing matter ejected from the disk by energetic feedback from massive stars.
caption: Hubble image of the dust lane and bulge of NGC 4302.
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