Messier 58
Galaxy in the constellation Virgo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Messier 58 (also known as M58 and NGC 4579) is an intermediate barred spiral galaxy with a weak inner ring structure located within the constellation Virgo, approximately 68 million light-years away from Earth.[9][10] It was discovered by Charles Messier on April 15, 1779 and is one of four barred spiral galaxies that appear in Messier's catalogue.[11][12][13][14][15][Note 1] M58 is one of the brightest galaxies in the Virgo Cluster.[16][17] From 1779 it was arguably (though unknown at that time) the farthest known astronomical object[18] until the release of the New General Catalogue in the 1880s and even more so the publishing of redshift values in the 1920s.
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| Messier 58 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Virgo[1] |
| Right ascension | 12h 37m 43.522s[2] |
| Declination | +11° 49′ 05.498″[2] |
| Redshift | 0.00506[2][3] |
| Heliocentric radial velocity | 1517 ± 1 km/s[2][3] |
| Distance | 21 megaparsecs (68 million light-years)[2][4] |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 9.7[5] |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | SAB(rs)b; LINER[6] Sy 1.9[2][7] |
| Size | 40.72 kiloparsecs (133,000 light-years) diameter; 2MASS K-band total isophote[2][8] |
| Apparent size (V) | 5.9′ × 4.7′[2] |
| Other designations | |
| NGC 4579, UGC 7796, PGC 42168, VCC 1727, GC 3121[2] | |
Early observations
Charles Messier discovered Messier 58, along with the elliptical galaxies Messier 59 and Messier 60, on April 15, 1779.[14] M58 was reported on the chart of the Comet of 1779 as it was almost on the same parallel as the star Epsilon Virginis.[11][19] Messier described M58 as a very faint nebula in Virgo which would disappear in the slightest amount of light he used to illuminate the micrometer wires.[11][20] This description was later contradicted by John Herschel's observations in 1833 where he described it as a very bright galaxy, especially towards the middle. Herschel's observations were also similar to the descriptions of both John Dreyer and William Henry Smyth who said that M58 was a bright galaxy, mottled, irregularly round and very much brighter toward the middle.[11]
Characteristics
Like many other spiral galaxies of the Virgo Cluster (e.g. Messier 90), Messier 58 is an anemic galaxy with low star formation activity concentrated within the galaxy's optical disk,[21] and relatively little neutral hydrogen, also located inside its disk, concentrated in clumps,[22] compared with other galaxies of similar morphological type. This deficiency of gas is believed to be caused by interactions with Virgo's intracluster medium.
Messier 58 has a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus, where a starburst may be present[23] as well as a supermassive black hole with a mass of around 70 million solar masses.[24] It is also one of the very few galaxies known to possess a UCNR (ultra-compact nuclear ring), a series of star-forming regions located in a very small ring around the center of the galaxy.[25] This led to its being dubbed the "ring bearer galaxy" by the popular astronomy YouTube program "Deep Sky videos".[18]
Supernovae
Two supernovae have been observed in the M58 galaxy:
- SN 1988A (Type II, mag. 13.5) was discovered by Kaoru Ikeya, Robert Evans, Christian Pollas and Shingo Horiguchi on January 18, 1988.[26][27] It was found 40 arcseconds south of the galaxy center.[14]
- SN 1989M (Type Ia, mag. 12.2) was discovered by Givi N. Kimeridze on 28 June 1989.[28][29][14] It was found 33 arcseconds north and 44 arcseconds west of M58's nucleus.[14]
See also
Notes
- The other barred spiral galaxies in Messier's catalogue are Messier 91, Messier 95 and Messier 109
