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On this page I collect my observations of the elliptical galaxy M 49 (NGC 4472) and its suround in the constellation Virgo.
M 49 in the constellation Virgo is the brightest galaxy of the Virgo galaxy cluster and a large luminous galaxy: it is a giant elliptical galaxy with a bright compact nucleus and a wide diffuse halo.
Together with the irregular galaxy UGC 7636 (not visible on the photo), M 49 forms an entry in the Arp catalog (Arp 134).
I have only visited and found M 49 visually once, and a second time with the eVscope. The eVscope photo also shows the spiral galaxy NGC 4470 (as well as some small and even fainter galaxies; see the evaluation). I also visited M 49 with the Vespera Pro, finding more galaxies in the vicinity, among others:
| M 49 (NGC 4472) | NGC 4470 | UGC 7636 | ||
| Size: 5' (Stoyan) Distance: 60 million light years (Stoyan) Rating: ** (Stoyan) |
Size: 1.3' x 0.9' (Wikipedia) Distance: 101 million light years (Wikipedia) Rating: --- |
Size: 1.0' x 0.7' (SkySafari) Distance: 28 million light years (SkySafari) Rating: --- |
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| NGC 4535 | NGC 4519 | NGC 4526 (NGC 4560) | ||
| Size: 7.1' x 5.0' (Wikipedia) Distance: 85 million light years (Wikipedia) Rating: --- |
Size: 1.8' x 0.9' (Wikipedia) Distance: 39 million light years (Wikipedia) Rating: --- |
Size: 7.0' x 2.5' (Wikipedia) Distance: 25 million light years (Wikipedia) Rating: --- |
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| NGC 4488 | NGC 4492 | NGC 4464 | ||
| Size: 4.1' x 1.7' (Wikipedia) Distance: 40 million light years (Wikipedia) Rating: --- |
Size: 1.7' x 1.6' (Wikipedia) Distance: 75 million light years (Wikipedia) Rating: --- |
Size: 0.9' x 0.7' (Wikipedia) Distance: 53 million light years (Wikipedia) Rating: --- |
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.
The elliptical galaxy M 49 in the constellation Virgo (in the Virgo galaxy cluster) plus the galaxy M 87 (higher up) (Image Courtesy of SkySafari Astronomy, www.simulationcurriculum.com)
Overview of the Virgo galaxy cluster, M 49 is located to the bottom right (Image Courtesy of SkySafari Astronomy, www.simulationcurriculum.com)
M 49 and some smaller galaxies in its neighborhood (Image Courtesy of SkySafari Astronomy, www.simulationcurriculum.com). This section corresponds to my first Vespera Pro photo of M 49 and its surround.
M 49 and some smaller galaxies in its neighborhood (Image Courtesy of SkySafari Astronomy, www.simulationcurriculum.com). At the lower edge of the ring around M 49 there is the irregular galaxy UGC 7636, which together with M 49 forms the Arp 134 group.
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M 49 - Mar 24, 2020 |
M 49 - Mar 24, 2020, processed |
M 49 - Mar 24, 2020, processed (NGC 4470 marked at the bottom right) |
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| Further galaxies: IC 3417, NGC 4466, NGC 4470, NGC 4471, NGC 4464, NGC 4465, NGC 4467 |  |
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Evaluation with nova.astrometry.net |
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M 49, Apr 20, 2025 - 2000p, 20 min, vertical section |
M 49, Apr 20, 2025 - 2000p, 20 min, vertical section, processed |
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M 49, Apr 20, 2025 - 2000p, 20 min, vertical section, processed and denoised (PAI) |
Evaluation with nova.astrometry.net* |
*) Galaxies nearby M 49: IC 3417, NGC 4464, NGC 4465, NGC 4466, NGC 4467, NGC 4470, NGC 4471, NGC 4472, NGC 4488, NGC 4492, NGC 4518, NGC 4519, NGC 4526, NGC 4535
