Messier 49 (also known as M49 or NGC 4472) is a giant

elliptical galaxy An elliptical galaxy is a type of galaxy with an approximately ellipsoidal shape and a smooth, nearly featureless image. They are one of the three main galaxy morphological classification, classes of galaxy described by Edwin Hubble in his Hub ...

about away in the equatorial

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

Virgo Virgo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Virgo (film), a 1970 Egyptian film * Virgo (character), several Marvel Comics characters * Virgo Asmita, a character in the manga ''Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas'' * ''Virgo'' (album), by Virgo Four, ...

. This galaxy was discovered by astronomer

Charles Messier Charles Messier (; 26 June 1730 – 12 April 1817) was a French astronomer. He published an astronomical catalogue consisting of 110 nebulae and star clusters, which came to be known as the ''Messier objects'', referred to with th ...

in 1777. As an elliptical galaxy, Messier 49 has the physical form of a

radio galaxy A radio galaxy is a galaxy with giant regions of radio emission extending well beyond its visible structure. These energetic radio lobes are powered by jets from its active galactic nucleus. They have luminosities up to 1039 W at radio wav ...

, 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 Nucleus (: nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucleu ...

of this galaxy is emitting X-rays, suggesting the likely presence of a

supermassive black hole A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions, of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical ...

with an estimated mass of , or 565 million times the mass of the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

(). X-ray emissions shows a structure to the north of Messier 49 that resembles a

bow shock In astrophysics, bow shocks are shock waves in regions where the conditions of density and pressure change dramatically due to blowing stellar wind. Bow shock occurs when the magnetosphere of an astrophysical object interacts with the nearby fl ...

. To the southwest of the core, the luminous outline of the galaxy can be traced out to a distance of 260 kpc. This galaxy has many

globular clusters A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars that is bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards its center. It can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of member stars, all orbiting ...

: estimated to be about 5,900. This is far more than the roughly 200 orbiting the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

, but dwarfed by the 13,450 orbiting the supergiant elliptical galaxy

Messier 87 Messier 87 (also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, generally abbreviated to M87) is a Type-cD galaxy, supergiant elliptical galaxy, elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo (constellation), Virgo that contains several trillion s ...

. On average, the globular clusters of M49 are about 10 billion years old. Between 2000 and 2009, strong evidence for a

stellar mass black hole A stellar black hole (or stellar-mass black hole) is a black hole formed by the gravitational collapse of a star. They have masses ranging from about 5 to several tens of solar masses. They are the remnants of supernova explosions, which may be ...

was discovered in one. A second candidate was announced in 2011. Messier 49 was the first member of the

Virgo Cluster The Virgo Cluster is a cluster of galaxies whose center is 53.8 ± 0.3 Mly (16.5 ± 0.1 Mpc) away in the Virgo constellation. Comprising approximately 1,300 (and possibly up to 2,000) member galaxies, the cluster forms the heart of the larger ...

of galaxies to be discovered. It is the most luminous member of that cluster and more luminous than any galaxy closer to the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. This galaxy forms part of the smaller Virgo B subcluster 4.5° away from the dynamic center of the Virgo Cluster, centered on

. Messier 49 is gravitationally interacting with the

dwarf Dwarf, dwarfs or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a supernatural being from Germanic folklore * Dwarf, a human or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a sh ...

irregular galaxy An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a distinct regular shape, unlike a spiral or an elliptical galaxy. Irregular galaxies do not fall into any of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, and they are often chaotic in appearan ...

UGC 7636. The dwarf shows a trail of debris spanning roughly 1 × 5 arcminutes, which corresponds to a physical dimension of . One

supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

has been observed in M49: SN 1969Q (type unknown, mag. 13) was discovered by Evans on 12 June 1969. ote: some sources incorrectly report the discovery date as 1 June 1969.

References and footnotes

External links

*
SEDS: Elliptical Galaxy M49

Black hole found in a star cluster in M49
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Messier 49 Messier 049 Messier 049 Messier 049 049 Messier 049 07629 41220 134 17710219 Discoveries by Charles Messier

See also

References and footnotes

External links