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| M60, an elliptical galaxy. Image above has been cropped and downsized for display. Click on image for full frame full resolution picture. |
| M60 is one of the giant elliptical galaxies in the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. It is the eastern most Messier galaxy in this cluster, and is also the last in a row of three: from east to west M60, M59 a mere 1/3rd degree away, and M58 one degree further beyond. M60 was discovered by Johann Gottfried Koehler on April 11, 1779, when he was following the comet of that year, together with neighboring M59. It was independently found four days later, on April 15, 1779, by Charles Messier, who also found nearby M58. Messier describes M60 as "a little more distinct" than M58 and M59. What neither Messier nor Gottfried could see, and what makes M60 somewhat unique among the otherwise visually blah ellipticals, is its faint neighbor, NGC 4647, shown in this image. At its distance of some 60 million light years, this galaxy's apparent diameter of 7x6 arc minutes corresponds to a linear diameter of 120,000 light years. Amateur telescopes, however, show only its bright central region of about 4x3 arc minutes diameter. At that distance, and at an apparent visual magnitude of 9, it has an intrinsic luminosity of 60 billion suns. Like most ellipticals, M60 has a goodly number of gloubulars, and in M60 at least 5000 have been spotted. |
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10"
F6.3 Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope, Baader coma corrector and IR-UV filter, Modified Canon
300D camera at prime focus |