Messier 59 - Galaxy
Messier 59 is an elliptical galaxy of Hubble Type E5 in the constellation Virgo with a brightness of 9.7mag and an apparent size of 5.4'x3.7'
arcminutes. It was found in April 1779 by Johann Gottfried Köhler when he was tracking a comet with his telescope.
The distance to Messier 59 is given as 52 million light-years. With a diameter of around 80,000 light-years, it is one of the larger elliptical
galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. Its absolute magnitude is M= -21.3mag, which corresponds to a luminosity of 30 billion suns. The halo is not
completely elliptical, but has tapered edges caused by the superposition of three differently elliptical structures.
The core contains an embedded disk that is bluer and therefore younger than the rest of the galaxy. It is assumed that this is a remnant of the
merger with another galaxy. Directly in the center there is a supermassive black hole (SMBH) with a mass of 270 million solar masses.
Although it is relatively quiet, a certain amount of activity can still be detected in the X-ray and radio range.
Messier 59 is surrounded by a halo of 2,200 globular star clusters. Only one supernova has been observed so far - SN 1939B with a maximum
brightness of 11.9mag.
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The galaxy offers a great sight in a telescope with 50cm aperture. It appears most beautiful at a magnification of 270x. It has an oval shape with
an elongation of 2:1. The halo is relatively homogeneous in the outer areas, followed by a bright central region with a stellar nucleus in the middle.
To the north of Messier 59, the faint galaxy IC 3672 can be seen and to the southwest of M59 even LEDA 4106176 with a brightness of 17.2mag,
which I was only able to see a few times for a brief moment at 380x.
