M59 - Elliptical Galaxy
Type: Elliptical Galaxy
Discoverer: Johann Gottfried Koehler April 11, 1779
Size: 76,000 ly
Distance: 48 Mly
Constellation: Virgo
My Notes: I captured this at the same time as M60 on which I wrote my notes for this, M58, & M89.
Koehler Notes: (April 11th & 13th, 1779) (M59 and M60) “Two very small nebulae, hardly visible in a 3-foot telescope; one above the other.”
Herschel Notes: (1864) “Bright, pretty large, little extended, very suddenly much brighter in the middle. Two stars precede."
Messier Notes: (April 15th, 1779) “A nebula in Virgo, in the neighbourhood of the preceding (M58)… It is of the same light as that above and as faint. M. Messier reported it on the chart of the comet of 1779.”
M59. 5 frames at 120 sec Dark Median Algorithm ISO 5000 f/8 560mm (840 FF equiv)
Virgo Galaxy Supercluster with M58 and 10 other Messier Objects among many other galaxies.
8 Messier Objects (galaxies) in one image (Labels are to the right of the object) 140mm focal length (210 FF equiv)
Drawing by Ronald Stoyan