| Designation(s) | M49, Arp 134, NGC 4472 |
| Object Type(s) | Galaxy |
| Relevant Catalog(s) | All (Chron), Arp, Messier, NGC |
| Arp Category | Galaxies with nearby fragments |
| Obs. Lat/Long | 42° 17', 073° 57' |
| Constellation | Virgo |
| Date and Time Observed | 2025-03-26 22:31:00 |
| Instrument | EdgeHD 8" w/f7 reducer-1,422mm FL |
| Camera | Player One Apollo-M Mini |
| Image Details | Up is N in featured and comparison, 110.2 degrees E of N in full-field images. Transparency: Good. Seeing: Good. Total integration time was 31m30s. Exposures 15s/300g. Darks subtracted, no flats. Dithered and recentered in SharpCap. |
| Description | This was the fourth and final addition, and another original discovery (#21), on February 19, 1771. It was also Messier's first elliptical galaxy in the catalog, though undoubtedly it would have appeared to him as a dim GC: "Nebula discovered near the star Rho Virginis. One cannot see it without difficulty with an ordinary telescope of 3.5-feet [FL]. The Comet of 1779 was compared by M. Messier with this nebula on April 22 and 23: The comet and the nebula had the same light. M. Messier has reported this nebula on the chart of the route of the comet, which appeared in the volume of the Academy of the same year 1779. Reviewed on April 10, 1781." <--> This galaxy was selected by Halton Arp for his atlas due to the "fragments" identified as the peculiar feature. The main fragment is visible on the 8 o'clock position just inside the lower left corner in the featured or comparison images. It's in the 4 o'clock position in the un-cropped captures, and particularly evident in my inverted image. It's clear an enormous amount of tidal flow exists between M49 and whatever this "fragment" is, presumably a distorted dwarf galaxy. Other fragments may also be visible, particularly in my inverted image, mostly on the opposite side of M49 within its outer halo. Also, find my original Seestar 11m capture in the gallery, as well as the annotation to its wider FOV. It does not have the resolution to show the Arp data but provides a nice view of M49 in context. |
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