Jun 3 2019
The galaxy NGC 4621, better referred to as Messier 59, is a luminous orb. As indicated by the latter nickname, the galaxy is listed in the well-known catalog of deep-sky objects compiled by Charles Messier, a French comet-hunter in the 18th century.
This luminous orb is the galaxy NGC 4621, better known as Messier 59. As this latter moniker indicates, the galaxy is listed in the famous catalog of deep-sky objects compiled by French comet-hunter Charles Messier in the 18th century. (Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, P. Cote)
Conversely, Johann Gottfried Koehler, a German astronomer, has been recognized for finding the galaxy only days before Messier added it to his collection in the year 1779.
According to the latest observations, Messier 59 is an elliptical galaxy and one among the three major types of galaxies along with irregulars and spirals. Among the trio, ellipticals happen to be the most evolved ones and they are full of old, red stars, displaying little or no formation of new stars. However, the Messier 59 galaxy bucks this trend slightly, showing indications of star formation, with certain nascent stars dwelling within a disk close to the core.
Messier 59 is located in the 2,000-strong Virgo cluster of galaxies inside the constellation of Virgo (the Virgin), and it lies about 50 million light-years away from the Earth. The above image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Messier 59 is included in Hubble’s Messier catalog, which contains some of the most captivating objects that can be visualized from the Northern Hemisphere of Earth.