NGC 4395 is a nearby low surface brightness spiral galaxy located about 14 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. The nucleus of NGC 4395 is active and the galaxy is classified as a Seyfert Type I, known for its very low-mass supermassive black hole. NGC 4395 has a halo that is about 8′ in diameter. It has several patches of greater brightness running northwest to southeast. The one furthest southeast is the brightest. Three of the patches have their own NGC numbers: 4401, 4400, and 4399 running east to west.
The galaxy is highly unusual for Seyfert galaxies, because it does not have a bulge and is considered to be a dwarf galaxy. NGC 4395 is one of the least luminous and nearest Seyfert galaxies known. The central black hole has a mass of “only” 300,000 M☉. However, more recent studies found a black hole mass of just 4,000 M☉ to 20,000 M☉. The low-mass black hole in NGC 4395 would make it a so-called “intermediate-mass black hole”. The black hole may have a truncated disk.
