Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  IC 3684  ·  M 59  ·  M 60  ·  NGC 4621  ·  NGC 4637  ·  NGC 4638  ·  NGC 4647  ·  NGC 4649  ·  PGC 1394064  ·  PGC 1397198  ·  PGC 1398085  ·  PGC 42679  ·  PGC 42758  ·  PGC 42792  ·  PGC 42846
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NGC 4649, M 60 Elliptical Galaxy, Rod Hughes
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NGC 4649, M 60 Elliptical Galaxy

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 4649, M 60 Elliptical Galaxy, Rod Hughes
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 4649, M 60 Elliptical Galaxy

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Description

On the surface, M 60 doesn't look like much in our telescopes. There is little, if any, contrasting details. However, when you consider that blob has a diameter 140,000 light years and it's brightness is on the order of 100 billion suns,  well, that, in and of itself, is impressive in spite of what it looks like to us 56 Mly away. I'm thankful it isn't any closer to earth, because if it was, the effect would be much worse than our full moon, ie, no astrophotography.

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NGC 4649, M 60 Elliptical Galaxy, Rod Hughes