M 49 Deep sky · Galaxy in Virgo · M 49 · NGC 4472
M 49
The brightest galaxy of the Virgo Cluster: a giant elliptical, and the first member of the cluster ever found.
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- Type
- Galaxy
- Designations
- M 49 · NGC 4472
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Apparent magnitude
- 8.3
- Apparent size
- 10′ × 8′
- Position (J2000)
- RA 12h 30m · Dec +08° 00′
The full Moon, about 31′ across, is 3 times as wide. The Sun passes 10° from it around late September, and for about 23 days of the year it sits within 15° of the Sun, lost in its glare.
When to see it
On the night of Sat 27 Mar 2027, when it is highest around midnight, on each city’s own clock:
| From | Rises | Highest | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| London GMT | 17:32 | 00:10 · 46° | 07:49 |
| New York EDT | 18:39 | 01:05 · 57° | 07:31 |
| Singapore GMT+8 | 19:16 | 01:16 · 83° | 07:15 |
| Sydney GMT+11 | 19:29 | 01:07 · 48° | 06:45 |
Common questions
- Can I see it from 50° north?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 48° up in the south.
- Can I see it from 35° south?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 47° up in the north.
- When is the best time of year to see it?
- Around late March, when it stands opposite the Sun and is highest at midnight. It comes round about two hours earlier each month, so by late June it is highest in the early evening, and in late December not until the hours before dawn.
- How bright is it?
- Magnitude 8.3 in total, but that light is spread over 10′ × 8′ of sky: on average 21.7 magnitudes per square arcsecond. Against a dark country sky that average stands out; a city’s glow drowns all but its brightest parts.
- Naked eye, binoculars or telescope?
- Binoculars. At magnitude 8.3 it is past the eye, but a 50 mm pair under a dark sky reaches about magnitude 11.0.
Look for
It lies in the southern part of the cluster, a bright oval glow in a small telescope.
Science
It is a ball of old stars with almost no gas left to make new ones, at the centre of its own group within the Virgo Cluster.
Look for
From 50° north it climbs to 48°; from 35° north it climbs to 63°; from the equator it climbs to 82°; from 35° south it climbs to 47°.
Look for
Magnitude 8.3 against the faintest star each can show: the eye under a city sky, 4.5 (3.8 short); the eye under a dark country sky, 7.0 (1.3 short); 50 mm binoculars under that dark sky, 11.0 (2.7 to spare); a 100 mm telescope there, 12.5 (4.2 to spare). Those limits are for a point of light; its light is spread over its whole size, so it needs some of that margin in hand. Through 7×50 binoculars, whose field is about 7.1° across, it spans 2% of the field’s width; through a 100 mm telescope at 50×, a field about 1° across, it spans 17% of the field’s width.