Messier 66

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Messier 66
Phot-33c-03-fullres.jpg
A colour-composite image of M66
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation Leo
Right ascension 11h 20m 15.026s [1]
Declination +12° 59′ 28.64″ [1]
Redshift 0.002425±0.000010 [2] (696.3±12.7 km/s) [3]
Distance 31  Mly (9.6  Mpc) [4]
Apparent magnitude  (V)8.9 [2]
Characteristics
Type SAB(s)b [5]
Apparent size  (V)9.1′ × 4.2′ [6]
Notable featuresGalaxy in the Leo Triplet
Other designations
Arp 16, NGC 3627, PGC 34695, UGC 6346 [7]

Messier 66 or M66, also known as NGC 3627, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the southern, equatorial half of Leo. It was discovered by French astronomer Charles Messier [8] on 1 March 1780, who described it as "very long and very faint". [9] This galaxy is a member of a small group of galaxies that includes M65 and NGC 3628, known as the Leo Triplet or the M66 Group. [10] M65 and M66 are a common object for amateur astronomic observation, being separated by only 20′ . [9]

Contents

M66 has a morphological classification of SABb, [5] indicating a spiral shape with a weak bar feature and loosely wound arms. The isophotal axis ratio is 0.32, indicating that it is being viewed at an angle. [5] M66 is receding from us with a heliocentric radial velocity of 696.3±12.7 km/s. [3] It lies 31 [4] million light-years away and is about 95 thousand light-years across [11] with striking dust lanes and bright star clusters along sweeping spiral arms.

Five supernovae have been observed in M66: SN 1973R (type IIP, mag. 14.5), [12] SN 1989B (type Ia, mag. 13), [13] SN 1997bs (Type IIn, mag. 17), [14] SN 2009hd (Type II, mag. 15.8), [15] and SN 2016cok (Type IIP, mag. 16.6). [16] [17] [18] SN 2016cok was discovered by the All Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae. [19]

Gravitational interaction from its past encounter with neighboring NGC 3628 has resulted in an extremely high central mass concentration; a high molecular to atomic mass ratio; and a resolved non-rotating clump of H I material apparently removed from one of the spiral arms. The latter feature shows up visually as an extremely prominent and unusual spiral arm and dust lane structures as originally noted in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies . [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 61</span> Galaxy in the constellation Virgo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 65</span> Intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Leo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 108</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4414</span> Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 2841</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

NGC 2841 is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Major. It was discovered on 9 March 1788 by German-born astronomer William Herschel. J. L. E. Dreyer, the author of the New General Catalogue, described it as, "very bright, large, very much extended 151°, very suddenly much brighter middle equal to 10th magnitude star". Initially thought to be about 30 million light-years distant, a 2001 Hubble Space Telescope survey of the galaxy's Cepheid variables determined its distance to be approximately 14.1 megaparsecs or 46 million light-years. The optical size of the galaxy is 8.1′ × 3.5′.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3310</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 772</span> Galaxy in the constellation of Aries

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 5962</span> Galaxy in the constellation Serpens

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4666</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 922</span> Peculiar galaxy in the constellation Fornax

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 105</span> Spiral Galaxy in the constellation Perseus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 488</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces

NGC 488 is a face-on spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces. It is at a distance of about 90 million light-years away from Earth. Its diameter is estimated to be 52,6 Kpc. The galaxy has a large central bulge, and is considered a prototype galaxy with multiple spiral arms. Its arms are tightly wound. Star forming activity has been traced within the arms. The nucleus of NGC 488 has been found to be chemically decoupled, being twice as metal rich as the central bulge of the galaxy. NGC 488, with the exception of its smaller companions, that form NGC 488 group, is an isolated galaxy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 1084</span> Galaxy in the constellation Eridanus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 1961</span> Galaxy in the constellation Camelopardis

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 5468</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4939</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo

NGC 4939 is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. It is located at a distance of about 120 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 4939 is about 190,000 light years across. It was discovered by William Herschel on March 25, 1786.

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References

  1. 1 2 Skrutskie, Michael F.; Cutri, Roc M.; Stiening, Rae; Weinberg, Martin D.; Schneider, Stephen E.; Carpenter, John M.; Beichman, Charles A.; Capps, Richard W.; Chester, Thomas; Elias, Jonathan H.; Huchra, John P.; Liebert, James W.; Lonsdale, Carol J.; Monet, David G.; Price, Stephan; Seitzer, Patrick; Jarrett, Thomas H.; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Gizis, John E.; Howard, Elizabeth V.; Evans, Tracey E.; Fowler, John W.; Fullmer, Linda; Hurt, Robert L.; Light, Robert M.; Kopan, Eugene L.; Marsh, Kenneth A.; McCallon, Howard L.; Tam, Robert; Van Dyk, Schuyler D.; Wheelock, Sherry L. (1 February 2006). "The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)". The Astronomical Journal. 131 (2): 1163–1183. Bibcode:2006AJ....131.1163S. doi: 10.1086/498708 . ISSN   0004-6256. S2CID   18913331.
  2. 1 2 de Vaucouleurs, G.; et al. (1991), Third reference catalogue of bright galaxies, 9, New York: Springer-Verlag.
  3. 1 2 van den Bosch, Remco C. E.; et al. (May 2015), "Hunting for Supermassive Black Holes in Nearby Galaxies With the Hobby-Eberly Telescope", The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 218 (1): 13, arXiv: 1502.00632 , Bibcode:2015ApJS..218...10V, doi:10.1088/0067-0049/218/1/10, S2CID   117876537, 10.
  4. 1 2 Tully, R. Brent; et al. (August 2016), "Cosmicflows-3", The Astronomical Journal, 152 (2): 21, arXiv: 1605.01765 , Bibcode:2016AJ....152...50T, doi: 10.3847/0004-6256/152/2/50 , S2CID   250737862, 50.
  5. 1 2 3 Ann, H. B.; et al. (2015), "A Catalog of Visually Classified Galaxies in the Local (z ~ 0.01) Universe", The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 217 (2): 27–49, arXiv: 1502.03545 , Bibcode:2015ApJS..217...27A, doi:10.1088/0067-0049/217/2/27, S2CID   119253507.
  6. ↑ "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database", Results for NGC 3627, retrieved 31 August 2006.
  7. ↑ "NGC 3627". SIMBAD . Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg . Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  8. ↑ Frommert, Hartmut; Kronberg, Christine (15 June 2016), Spiral Galaxy M66 , retrieved 3 December 2018.
  9. 1 2 O'Meara, Stephen James (2014), Deep-Sky Companions: The Messier Objects, Cambridge University Press, p. 248, ISBN   978-1107018372 It is recorded as discovered by Pierre Méchain, but apparently this is an error.
  10. ↑ Adam, Len (2018), Imaging the Messier Objects Remotely from Your Laptop, The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series, Springer, p. 290, Bibcode:2018imor.book.....A, ISBN   978-3319653853
  11. ↑ Per the small angle formula: 31 mly × tan( 9.1′ ) = ~82 kly. diameter
  12. ↑ Transient Name Server entry for SN 1973R. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  13. ↑ Transient Name Server entry for SN 1989B. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  14. ↑ Transient Name Server entry for SN 1997bs. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  15. ↑ Transient Name Server entry for SN 2009hd. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  16. ↑ Sutaria, Firoza; Ray, Alak (June 2016), "No X-ray detection of SN2016cok by Swift XRT", The Astronomer's Telegram, 9189: 1, Bibcode:2016ATel.9189....1S.
  17. ↑ List of Supernovae, Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams , retrieved 9 September 2015
  18. ↑ Transient Name Server entry for SN 2016cok. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  19. ↑ Lewis, Danny. "Spy Two Supernovae in June's Night Sky". Smithsonian. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  20. ↑ Zhang, Xiaolei; et al. (1993), "High-Resolution CO and H i Observations of the Interacting Galaxy NGC 3627", Astrophysical Journal , 418: 100, Bibcode:1993ApJ...418..100Z, doi: 10.1086/173374 .
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