Messier 66

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Galaxy
Messier 66
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ESO: Image of the Very Large Telescope from Messier 66. The bright star immediately above is labeled BD + 13 ° 2389 / SAO 99560.
ESO : Image of the Very Large Telescope from Messier 66 . The bright star immediately above bears the designation BD + 13 ° 2389 / SAO 99560.
AladinLite
Constellation lion
Position
equinox :  J2000.0 , epoch : J2000.0
Right ascension 11 h 20 m 14.9 s
declination + 12 ° 59 ′ 30 ″
Appearance
Morphological type SAB (s) b; LINER Sy2  
Brightness  (visual) 8.9 likes
Brightness  (B-band) 9.7 likes
Angular expansion 9.1 ′ × 4.1 ′
Position angle 173 °
Surface brightness 12.7 mag / arcmin²
Physical data
Affiliation M66 group , LGG 231  
Redshift 0.002425 ± 0.000010  
Radial velocity (+727 ± 3) km / s  
Stroke distance
v rad  / H 0 		(29 ± 2)  x  10 6  ly
(8.81 ± 0.62)  Mpc 
history
discovery Charles Messier
Discovery date March 1, 1780
Catalog names
M  66 • NGC  3627 • UGC  6346 • PGC  34695 • CGCG  067-057 • MCG  + 02-29-19 • IRAS  11176 + 1315 • Arp  16, part of 317 • VV  308a • GC  2377 • h  875? • Arak 288 • Stile 246A

Messier 66 (also known as NGC 3627) is an 8.9  mag bright spiral galaxy of the Hubble type Sb with an area of ​​9.1 '× 4.1' in the constellation Leo . The actual diameter is about 100,000 light years.

A close up view of the Hubble Space Telescope
Multispectral recording. Blue: gamma radiation; yellow: visible light; red: infrared
UV recording using GALEX
IR image from the Spitzer Space Telescope

Together with Messier 65 and NGC 3628 , this galaxy forms the Leo triplet , the core of the M66 galaxy group , which is about 30 million light years (10 Mpc) away. Halton Arp organized his catalog of unusual galaxies into groups according to purely morphological criteria. This galaxy triplet belongs to the class of galaxy groups . In addition, the galaxy in the Arp catalog belongs to the class spiral galaxies with separated sections .

In M66, the supernova SN 1989B (type Ia) and the possible supernova SN 1997bs were observed, which could also have been an LBV outbreak.

The galaxy can already be seen in a powerful pair of binoculars . It was discovered on March 1, 1780 by the French astronomer Charles Messier . Scientifically, it has also been studied with space telescopes. A study with the Hubble Space Telescope shows active areas in the H-alpha spectral line. An overlay of the visual spectrum with an infrared image from the Spitzer Space Telescope and an image of the gamma radiation from the Chandra Space Telescope reveals the distribution of black holes .

Web links

Commons : Messier 66  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Jeff Kanipe and Dennis Webb: The Arp Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies - A Chronicle and Observer's Guide , Richmond 2006, ISBN 978-0-943396-76-7

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e NASA / IPAC EXTRAGALACTIC DATABASE
  2. ↑ a b c d e SEDS : NGC 3627
  3. ↑ Seligman
  4. ↑ http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/5512-sig12-013-Revealing-Hidden-Black-Holes