Messier 58
Galaxy in the constellation Virgo / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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] |