Galaxy Messier 49

Messier 49
Messier 49: Image taken by Hubble Space Telescope. © ESA/Hubble & NASA [273]

History

The galaxy was discovered by Charles Messier on 19 February 1771. He described it as «difficult to see in a 3.5 foot [focal length] telescope». It was the first and largest galaxy in the Virgo Cluster that he had discovered. [4, 196]

Physical Properties

M 49 is an elliptical Seyfert 2 galaxy of the morphological type E2, contains around 200 billion mostly old stars. The last stars formed here about six billion years ago - before the birth of our sun. The diameter is 157'000 light years. The measured distances range from 16.8 Mpc to 19.28 Mpc (approximately 55 to 63 million light years). A supermassive black hole with about 500 million solar masses is up to mischief in the extremely active core and is a powerful source of X-rays. M 49 is also rich in globular clusters. About 6000 were counted here. The Milky Way has just 150 of them. The average age of globular clusters is around 10 billion years. [145, 273]

Revised+Historic NGC/IC, Version 22/9, © Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke [277]
DesignationNGC 4472
TypeGx (E2)
Right Ascension12h 29m 46.7s
Declination+08° 00' 00"
Diameter10.2 × 8.3 arcmin
Photographic (blue) magnitude9.4 mag
Visual magnitude8.4 mag
Surface brightness13.2 mag·arcmin-2
Position Angle155°
Redshift0.003326
Distance derived from z14.05 Mpc
Metric Distance16.000 Mpc
Dreyer DescriptionvB, L, R, mbM, r
Identification, RemarksM 49, UGC 7629, MCG 1-32-83, Arp 134, VCC 1226, CGCG 42-134

Further Galaxies Nearby

Looking in the direction of M 49 there are other much smaller and fainter galaxies, which are listed here in tabular form only for the sake of shape.

Revised+Historic NGC/IC, Version 22/9, © Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke [277]
NameRADecTypebMagvMagDimDreyer DescriptionIdentification, Remarks
NGC 443412 27 36.6+08 09 16Gx (E0)13.012.21.4 × 1.4pF, vSUGC 7571, MCG 1-32-69, CGCG 42-115, VCC 1025
NGC 446412 29 21.2+08 09 25Gx (E)13.512.50.9 × 0.7F, vS, R, pgbMUGC 7619, MCG 1-32-78, CGCG 42-128, VCC 1178
NGC 446512 29 23.5+08 01 34Gx (Sc)15.214.50.5 × 0.3vF, v difCGCG 42-127, VCC 1182
NGC 446612 29 30.6+07 41 49Gx (Sab)14.413.51.1 × 0.3vF, pS, iRUGC 7626, MCG 1-32-81, CGCG 42-131, VCC 1193
NGC 446712 29 30.3+07 59 34Gx (E2)14.813.80.4 × 0.3vF, vS, lEMCG 1-32-80, CGCG 42-130, ARAK 369, VCC 1192
NGC 447012 29 37.9+07 49 26Gx (Sa)13.112.11.3 × 0.9F, pL, iR, bMUGC 7627, MCG 1-32-82, IRAS 12270+0806, VCC 1205, CGCG 42-132
NGC 447112 29 42.0+07 53 46*14.4vF, vS (not found by d'A)
NGC 448812 30 51.3+08 21 35Gx (SB0-a)13.112.24.1 × 1.7vF, vS, lEUGC 7653, MCG 2-32-104, CGCG 70-137, VCC 1318
NGC 449212 30 59.7+08 04 41Gx (Sa)13.212.61.7 × 1.6pF, pL, vglbM, 2 st nrIC 3438, UGC 7656, MCG 1-32-89, CGCG 42-141, VCC 1330

Finder Chart

M 49 is located in the constellation Virgo about halfway between the stars Vindemiatrix (π Virginis) and ν Virginis. The best way to see the galaxy is from February to June.

Chart Galaxy Messier 49
Galaxy Messier 49 in constellation Virgo. Chart created using SkySafari 6 Pro and STScI Digitized Sky Survey. [149, 160]

Visual Observation

Pending ...

More Objects Nearby (±15°)

References

4«Burnham's Celestial Handbook: An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar System» by Robert Burnham; Dover Publications, Inc.; Voume I: ISBN 0-486-23567-X; Volume II: ISBN 0-486-23568-8; Volume III: ISBN 0-486-23673-0
145SIMBAD astronomical database; simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad
149SkySafari 6 Pro, Simulation Curriculum; skysafariastronomy.com
160The STScI Digitized Sky Survey; archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form
196Celestial Atlas by Curtney Seligman; cseligman.com/text/atlas.htm (2020-12-28)
273Invisible X-rays; esahubble.org/images/potw1911a (2021-02-15)
277«Historische Deep-Sky Kataloge» von Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke; klima-luft.de/steinicke (2021-02-17)