M 90 Deep sky · Galaxy in Virgo · M 90 · NGC 4569
M 90
A spiral galaxy in Virgo that is moving towards us, and has had most of its gas stripped away as it plunges through the cluster.
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- Type
- Galaxy
- Designations
- M 90 · NGC 4569
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Apparent magnitude
- 9.5
- Apparent size
- 10′ × 4′
- Position (J2000)
- RA 12h 37m · Dec +13° 10′
The full Moon, about 31′ across, is 3.3 times as wide. The Sun comes no nearer to it than 16°, around late September, so it is never lost in the Sun’s glare, which reaches about 15° out.
When to see it
On the night of Mon 29 Mar 2027, when it is highest around midnight, on each city’s own clock:
| From | Rises | Highest | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| London GMT+1 | 18:03 | 01:10 · 52° | 08:16 |
| New York EDT | 18:19 | 01:04 · 62° | 07:49 |
| Singapore GMT+8 | 19:15 | 01:15 · 78° | 07:15 |
| Sydney GMT+11 | 19:42 | 01:06 · 43° | 06:29 |
Common questions
- Can I see it from 50° north?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 53° up in the south.
- Can I see it from 35° south?
- Yes. It rises and sets, and at its highest it stands 42° 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 9.5 in total, but that light is spread over 10′ × 4′ of sky: on average 22.2 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 9.5 it is past the eye, but a 50 mm pair under a dark sky reaches about magnitude 11.0.
Look for
It lies just north of M 89. A telescope shows a long oval, with a smooth, quiet look for a spiral.
Science
With little gas left, it is no longer forming many new stars: the cluster’s hot gas has blown its own away.
Look for
From 50° north it climbs to 53°; from 35° north it climbs to 68°; from the equator it climbs to 77°; from 35° south it climbs to 42°.
Look for
Magnitude 9.5 against the faintest star each can show: the eye under a city sky, 4.5 (5.0 short); the eye under a dark country sky, 7.0 (2.5 short); 50 mm binoculars under that dark sky, 11.0 (1.5 to spare); a 100 mm telescope there, 12.5 (3.0 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 16% of the field’s width.