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.[6][7] It was discovered by Charles Messier on April 15, 1779 and is one of four barred spiral galaxies that appear in Messier's catalogue.[8][9][10][11][12][Note 1] M58 is one of the brightest galaxies in the Virgo Cluster.[13][14] From 1779 it was arguably (though unknown at that time) the farthest known astronomical object[15] until the release of the New General Catalogue in the 1880s and even more so the publishing of redshift values in the 1920s.
Messier 58 | |
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Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
Constellation | Virgo[1] |
Right ascension | 12h 37m 43.5s[2] |
Declination | +11° 49′ 05″[2] |
Redshift | 0.00506[2] |
Heliocentric radial velocity | 1517 ± 1 km/s[2] |
Distance | 62 Mly (19.1 Mpc) (NED)[3] 68 Mly[4] |
Apparent magnitude (V) | 9.7[5] |
Characteristics | |
Type | SAB(rs)b; LINER Sy1.9[2] |
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.[11] M58 was reported on the chart of the Comet of 1779 as it was almost on the same parallel as the star Epsilon Virginis.[8][16] 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.[8][17] 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.[8]
Characteristics
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/M58s.jpg/220px-M58s.jpg)
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,[18] and relatively little neutral hydrogen, also located inside its disk, concentrated in clumps,[19] 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[20] as well as a supermassive black hole with a mass of around 70 million solar masses.[21] 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.[22] This led to its being dubbed the "ring bearer galaxy" by the popular astronomy YouTube program "Deep Sky videos".[15]
Supernovae
Two supernovae have been studied in the M58 galaxy.[2] A type II supernova dubbed as SN 1988A was discovered by Kaoru Ikeya, Robert Evans, Christian Pollas and Shingo Horiguchi on January 18, 1988.[23] It had an apparent magnitude of 13.5 found 40 arcseconds south of its center.[11] A Type I supernova dubbed as SN 1989M was then found on June 28, 1989 by Kimeridze.[11] This one had an apparent magnitude of 12.2 found 33 arcseconds north and 44 arcseconds west of its nucleus.[11]
See also
Notes
References
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- SEDS Messier: M58
- Spitzer Space Telescope page on Messier 58
- Messier 58 on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images