M58
Galaxy in Virgo
About
A barred spiral galaxy in Virgo, about 68 million light-years away and one of the brighter members of the Virgo Cluster. It has a low-luminosity active nucleus and an unusually compact ring of star formation around it. Two supernovae were seen here, in 1988 and 1989.
Imaging tips
- About 6′ by 4′, too small to frame: use a long focal length and a fine pixel scale.
- About an hour of 6-minute subs at 1,600 mm with a light-pollution filter showed two thin arms running east-west, which visual observers do not see.
- M59 and M60 lie just east of it; a wider lens or mosaic gathers the trio and the many Virgo Cluster galaxies around them.
- At 21.8 mag/arcsec² it is moderately faint, so more hours of broadband data will help.
- Best in March and April.
Facts
- Size
- 6′ × 4′
- Magnitude
- 9.7
- Coordinates
- RA 12h 37.7m, Dec +11° 49′
- Framing, APS-C
- longer than 4000 mm
- Framing, full frame
- longer than 4000 mm
- Best months
- Mar, Apr
- Peak altitude
- 52° from 50°N, 67° from 35°N