M 49

Elliptical galaxy M49 was the first member of the Virgo cluster of galaxies discovered, by Charles Messier in 1771. It is also one of the brightest with its mag 8.5, which corresponds to an absolute magnitude of approximately -22.8, regarding its distance of about 60 million light years. It is one of the giant elliptical galaxies in this great cluster (besides M60 and M87), and is of type E4. Its extension of 9x7.5 arc minutes corresponds to an ellipsoid with a projected major axis of nearly 160,000 light years (we don't know the real extension along the line of sight toward us, of course, as we don't know the spatial orientation of the real ellipsoid axes), so it is actually a big ellipsoid. Older estimates have suggested a mass which might be bigger than that of the nearby giant M87, but now it is assumed that M87 is much denser. With its integrated spectral class G7 and color index +0.76, it is yellower than most galaxies in the Virgo cluster. Longer exposures show a system of globular cluster, which however is much less crowded than that of M87 and M60.

The fuzzy nebulosity near the brighter star in the upper right is probably a faint, small companion, as it also appears in the DSSM image (observe the reverse orientation of these images, however). In that image, many more faint companions can be seen, among them the relatively bright peculiar NGC 4470 (photographic mag 13.0). The foreground star was first mentioned by John Herschel and is of mag 13, so that it might be erroneously taken for a supernova by observers unfamilar with this galaxy's appearance.

A probable supernova, 1969Q, of mag 13.0 was reported in this galaxy in June, 1969.

Right ascension	12 : 27.3 (hours : minutes)
Declination	+08 : 16 (degrees : minutes)
Distance	70000.0 (light-years*10^3)
Visual magnitude	8.5

DSSM