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M49
Messier 49
Elliptical Galaxy
Right Ascension | 12h 29m 50s | Best Seen | 4/1-8/1 |
Declination | 8° 00' 00" | Magnitude | 8.4 |
Constellation | Virgo | ||
Actual |
Compared to Milky Way |
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Distance | ~ 50 million ly | -- |
Actual Brightness | ~ 30 billion suns | -- |
Diameter | ~ 160 thousand ly | ~ 1.6 |
Mass | ~ 500 billion suns | ~ 5 |
Galactic Type | E4 | -- |
What To Look For Through The Telescope
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Recommended eyepiece: 40mm or 80 mm.
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When people look through the telescope they should see a fuzzy patch of light. This is the galaxy. If they are having trouble seeing it, have them look at a star near the edge of the field, then look back to the center out of the corner of their eye.
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The view through the telescope will not look like photographs of galaxies they may have seen. A photograph of a galaxy may have an exposure of many hours. This long exposure brings out the galaxy’s details. Our eyes allow light to collect for only about 1/30 of a second before they refresh themselves and start over again.
M49 Information
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This is one of the largest and most massive galaxies known.
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Its appearance resembles that of a flattened basketball
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This galaxy has many globular clusters, perhaps as many as about 6,300 globulars.
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References
Item | Updated | Notes |
Coordinates | 2002-08-12 | just “tweaked” a bit |
Magnitude | 2002-08-12 | previous: 8.6... from http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m049.html |
Distance | 2002-08-12 | previous: 42 million ly... – BUT http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m049.html said 60 mil ly, another site said 50 |
Actual Brightness | 2002-08-12 | added “~” – BUT cannot find any info to support this |
Diameter | 2002-08-12 | previous: 50-190 thousand ly – BUT all found said “projected major axis of nearly 160,000 light years” at http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m049.html |
Mass | 2002-08-12 | added “~” – BUT cannot find any info to support this |
Galactic Type | 2002-08-12 | previous: E3 – BUT SIMBAD says “E...” and http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m049.html says “E4" |