Messier 59: Elliptical Galaxy in Virgo
- Catalog
- M59 · NGC 4621
- Type
- Elliptical galaxy
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Best season
- Spring evenings
- Magnitude
- 9.8
- Apparent size
- 5′ × 3.5′
- Distance
- 60,000,000 light-years
- Position (J2000)
- 12h 42.0m, +11° 39′
- Best seen with
- Larger telescope
- Discovered
- Johann Gottfried Koehler, 1779
M59 is a modest elliptical galaxy in the eastern part of the Virgo Cluster. It sits between M58 and M60, and at low power it shares the field with M60.
What it is
M59 is an elliptical galaxy about 60 million light-years away. Its 5-arcminute length works out to roughly 87,000 light-years. It is clearly flattened, longer in one direction than the other. It is large compared with most galaxies but well behind the cluster's giants, M49, M60 and M87, in mass and brightness. It still has a system of about 1,900 globular clusters, many times more than the Milky Way.
When to see it
M59 is a spring object. It is highest around midnight in early April and well placed in the evening from April into June. From about 40°N it climbs to about 62° in the south. It is also visible from most of the Southern Hemisphere, lower in the north during their autumn.
How to find it
Start at Vindemiatrix (Epsilon Virginis), the 3rd-magnitude star in the northeast of Virgo. Move about 4½° due west to find M60, the brighter of the pair; the 5th-magnitude star Rho Virginis lies about 1½° south-southwest of M60 and helps confirm your position. M59 is less than half a degree west-northwest of M60. Continue another 1° west to reach M58, and beyond it lies the crowded field around Markarian's Chain.
What you will see
M59 is a small, faint smudge. A small telescope under dark skies shows a dim oval with a brighter center, next to the somewhat brighter, rounder M60. A 200 mm telescope makes the elongated shape clear, but there is no detail to see; it is a smooth glow that fades toward the edges. With larger scopes the faint galaxy NGC 4638 can be picked up nearby. From suburban skies it is a challenge in apertures under about 150 mm.
History
Johann Gottfried Koehler of Dresden discovered M59 and M60 on April 11, 1779, while watching the comet of that year. Charles Messier, observing the same comet, found both four days later, on April 15, together with M58. He described M59 as about as faint as M58 and fainter than M60.