M49

M49 or Messier 49 (also known as NGC 4472) is a giant elliptical galaxy about 56 million light-years away in the equatorial constellation of Virgo. This galaxy was discovered by astronomer Charles Messier in 1777.

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As an elliptical galaxy, Messier 49 has the physical form of a radio galaxy, but it only has the radio emission of a normal galaxy. From the detected radio emission, the core region has roughly 1053 erg (1046 J or 1022 YJ) of synchrotron energy. The nucleus of this galaxy is emitting X-rays, suggesting the likely presence of a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of 5.65 × 108 solar masses, or 565 million times the mass of the Sun (M☉). X-ray emissions shows a structure to the north of Messier 49 that resembles a bow shock. To the southwest of the core, the luminous outline of the galaxy can be traced out to a distance of 260 kpc. The only supernova event seen within it is SN 1969Q, discovered in 1969.

Note on Feature Image. M49 is lower centre-right with Bright object to the lower left of the Galaxy. This is a trademark feature to identify M 49. Near the top of this image is NGC 4467.

The following images are from when I observed it in 1994:

Notes

Keywords: M49, Messier, Virgo, Galaxy