View source for Messier 60

{{Short description|Elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo}}
{{Infobox galaxy
 | name     = [[Messier object|Messier]] 60
 | image    = Messier 60 - Hubble (2013-9-24).jpg
 | image_size = 300px
 | caption  = M60 and the region around it, including the ultra-compact dwarf galaxy [[M60-UCD1]] near the bottom
 | credit   = 
 | epoch    = [[J2000]]
 | constellation name = [[Virgo (constellation)|Virgo]]<ref name="sinnott1988"/>
 | type     = E1.5 or S0<ref name=DeBruyne2001/>
 | ra       = {{RA|12|43|40.008}}<ref name=Skrutskie2006/>
 | dec      = {{DEC|+11|33|09.40}}<ref name=Skrutskie2006/>
 | z        = 0.003726<ref name="ned" />
 | h_radial_v = {{Val|1108|u=km/s|fmt=commas}}<ref name=Tully2016/>
 | dist_ly  = {{Convert|17.38|Mpc|Mly|order=flip|abbr=on|lk=on}}<ref name=Tully2016/>
 | appmag_v = 8.8<ref>{{cite web |url=https://messier.seds.org/m/m060.html |title=Messier 60 |access-date=29 April 2022 |website=SEDS Messier Catalog}}</ref>
 | size_v   = {{nowrap|7.4{{prime}} × 6.0{{prime}}}}<ref name="ned" />
 | group_cluster = [[Virgo Cluster]]
 | mass     = 
 | half_light_radius_arcminsec = 
 | names    = M60, [[New General Catalogue|NGC]] 4649, [[Principal Galaxies Catalogue|PGC]] 42831, [[Uppsala General Catalogue|UGC]] 7898.<ref name="simbad"/>
}}

'''Messier 60''' or '''M60''', also known as '''NGC 4649''', is an [[elliptical galaxy]] approximately 57<ref name=Tully2016/>&nbsp;million [[light-year]]s away in the [[celestial equator|equatorial]] [[constellation]] of [[Virgo (constellation)|Virgo]]. Together with [[NGC 4647]], it forms a pair known as [[Arp 116]].<ref name=ScienceDaily-2012-09-06/> Messier 60 and nearby elliptical galaxy [[Messier 59]] were discovered by [[Johann Gottfried Koehler]] in April 1779, observing a [[comet]] in the same part of the sky.<ref name="jonesbook1991"/> [[Charles Messier]] added both to his [[Messier Catalogue|catalogue]] about three days after this.<ref name="jonesbook1991" />

== Characteristics ==

This is an elliptical galaxy of type E{{frac|1|1|2}} (E1.5), although some sources class it as S0&nbsp;&ndash; a [[lenticular galaxy]]. An E2 class indicates a [[flattening]] of 20%, which has a nearly round appearance. The [[isophote]]s of the galaxy are boxy in shape, rather than simple ellipses. The [[mass-to-light ratio]] is a near constant 9.5 in the V (visual) band of the [[UBV system]].<ref name=DeBruyne2001/> The galaxy has an [[effective radius]] of {{Val|128|ul=arcsecond}} (translating, at its distance, to about 10&nbsp;kpc<ref name=DeBruyne2001/>), with an estimated mass of ~10<sup>12</sup>&nbsp;{{solar mass|lk=yes}} within a threefold volume, of which nearly half is [[dark matter]].<ref name=Teodorescu2011/> The mass estimated from [[X-ray astronomy|X-ray emission]] is {{Val|1.0|0.1|e=12|u=solar mass}} within 5 effective radii.<ref name=Paggi2017/>

=== Supermassive black hole ===

At the center of M60 is a [[supermassive black hole]] (SMBH) of {{Val|4.5|1.0}}&nbsp;billion solar masses, one of the [[List of most massive black holes|largest ever found]].<ref name=Shen2010/> It is currently [[Active galactic nucleus|inactive]]. X-ray emission from the galaxy shows a cavity created by [[Astrophysical jet|jets]] emitted by the hole during past active periods, which correspond to weak radio lobes. The [[Power (physics)|power]] needed to generate these features is in the range {{Val|6|–|7|e=41|u=erg·s<sup>−1</sup>}} (ergs per second).<ref name=Shurkin2008/>

== Supernovae ==
In 2004, [[supernova]] ''[[SN 2004W]]'' was observed in Messier 60.<ref name=SN2004W/> It was a [[type Ia supernova]] found {{Val|51.6|u=arcsecond}} west and {{val|78.7|u=arcsecond}} south of the nucleus.<ref name=Moore2004/>

== Environment ==
M60 is the third-brightest giant elliptical galaxy of the [[Virgo cluster of galaxies]], and is the dominant member of a subcluster of four galaxies, the M60 group, which is the closest-known isolated compact group of galaxies.<ref name=Mamon2008/> It has several satellite galaxies, one of them being the [[ultracompact dwarf galaxy]] [[M60-UCD1]], discovered in 2013.<ref name=Vo2015/> The motion of M60 through the [[intercluster medium]] is resulting in [[ram-pressure stripping]] of gas from the galaxy's outer halo, beyond a radius of 12&nbsp;kpc.<ref name=Paggi2017/>

[[NGC 4647]] appears approximately 2.5{{prime}} from Messier 60; the optical disks of the two galaxies overlap. Although this overlap suggests that the galaxies are interacting, photographic images of the two galaxies do not reveal any evidence for [[interacting galaxy|gravitational interactions]] between the two galaxies as would be suggested if the two galaxies were physically close to each other.<ref name="carnegieatlas"/> This suggests that the galaxies are at different distances and are only weakly interacting if at all.<ref name="carnegieatlas" /> However, studies with the Hubble Space Telescope show indications that a tidal interaction may have just begun.<ref name=ScienceDaily-2012-09-06/>

== Recession speed and distance estimations ==
Messier 60 was the fastest-moving galaxy included in [[Edwin Hubble]]'s landmark 1929 paper concerning the relationship between recession speed and distance.<ref name="Hubbles Law">{{cite journal |last=Edwin Hubble|date=1929 |title=A relation between distance and radial velocity among extra-galactic nebulae |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|PNAS]] |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=168–173 |doi=10.1073/pnas.15.3.168 |pmid=16577160 |pmc=522427 |bibcode=1929PNAS...15..168H|doi-access=free }}</ref> He used a value of 1090&nbsp;km/s for the recession speed, 1.8% less than the more recent value of about 1110&nbsp;km/s (based on a redshift of 0.003726). But he estimated the distance of this galaxy as well as of the three nebulas of the [[Virgo Cluster]] which he included ([[Messier 85]], [[Messier 49|49]], and [[Messier 87|87]]), to be only two million parsecs, rather than the accepted value today of around 16 million parsecs. These errors in distance led him to propose a [[Hubble constant]] of 500&nbsp;km/s/Mpc, whereas the present estimate is around 70&nbsp;km/s/Mpc.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Arp116 Hubble.jpg|Arp 116 is composed of a giant elliptical galaxy known as Messier 60, and a much smaller spiral galaxy, NGC 4647.
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of Messier objects]]
* [[NGC 7318]]

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="simbad">{{cite simbad | title=M 60 | access-date=2006-11-16 }}</ref>

<ref name=DeBruyne2001>{{citation
 | title=Toward an Alternative Way of Looking at Elliptical Galaxies: Case Studies for NGC 4649 and NGC 7097
 | last1=De Bruyne | first1=V. | last2=Dejonghe | first2=H.
 | last3=Pizzella | first3=A. | last4=Bernardi | first4=M.
 | last5=Zeilinger | first5=W. W. | display-authors=1
 | journal=The Astrophysical Journal | postscript=.
 | volume=546 | issue=2 | pages=903–915 | date=January 2001
 | doi=10.1086/318275 | bibcode=2001ApJ...546..903D | doi-access=free | hdl=11577/1363890 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name=Paggi2017>{{citation
 | title=Constraining the Physical State of the Hot Gas Halos in NGC 4649 and NGC 5846
 | last1=Paggi | first1=Alessandro | last2=Kim | first2=Dong-Woo
 | last3=Anderson | first3=Craig | last4=Burke | first4=Doug
 | last5=D'Abrusco | first5=Raffaele | last6=Fabbiano | first6=Giuseppina
 | last7=Fruscione | first7=Antonella | last8=Gokas | first8=Tara
 | last9=Lauer | first9=Jen | last10=McCollough | first10=Michael
 | last11=Morgan | first11=Doug | last12=Mossman | first12=Amy
 | last13=O'Sullivan | first13=Ewan | last14=Trinchieri | first14=Ginevra
 | last15=Vrtilek | first15=Saeqa | last16=Pellegrini | first16=Silvia
 | last17=Romanowsky | first17=Aaron J. | last18=Brodie | first18=Jean
 | journal=The Astrophysical Journal | display-authors=1
 | volume=844 | issue=1 | id=5 | pages=30 | date=July 2017
 | bibcode=2017ApJ...844....5P | arxiv=1706.02303
 | doi=10.3847/1538-4357/aa7897  | s2cid=56353971 | postscript=. | doi-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name=Teodorescu2011>{{citation
 | title=Planetary Nebulae in the Elliptical Galaxy NGC 4649 (M 60): Kinematics and Distance Redetermination
 | last1=Teodorescu | first1=A. M. | last2=Méndez | first2=R. H.
 | last3=Bernardi | first3=F. | last4=Thomas | first4=J.
 | last5=Das | first5=P. | last6=Gerhard | first6=O.
 | journal=The Astrophysical Journal | display-authors=1
 | volume=736 | issue=1 | id=65 | pages=16 | date=July 2011
 | doi=10.1088/0004-637X/736/1/65 | postscript=.
 | bibcode=2011ApJ...736...65T | arxiv=1105.1209 | s2cid=118857466 }}</ref>

<ref name=Tully2016>{{citation
 | last1=Tully | first1=R. Brent | last2=Courtois | first2=Hélène M.
 | last3=Sorce | first3=Jenny G. | display-authors=1
 | title=Cosmicflows-3 | journal=The Astronomical Journal
 | volume=152 | issue=2 | id=50 | pages=21 | date=August 2016
 | doi=10.3847/0004-6256/152/2/50  | bibcode=2016AJ....152...50T
 | arxiv=1605.01765 | s2cid=250737862 | postscript=. | doi-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name=Skrutskie2006>{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/498708 |last1=Skrutskie |first1=Michael F. |last2=Cutri |first2=Roc M. |last3=Stiening |first3=Rae |last4=Weinberg |first4=Martin D. |last5=Schneider |first5=Stephen E. |last6=Carpenter |first6=John M. |last7=Beichman |first7=Charles A. |last8=Capps |first8=Richard W. |last9=Chester |first9=Thomas |last10=Elias |first10=Jonathan H. |last11=Huchra |first11=John P. |last12=Liebert |first12=James W. |last13=Lonsdale |first13=Carol J. |last14=Monet |first14=David G. |last15=Price |first15=Stephan |last16=Seitzer |first16=Patrick |last17=Jarrett |first17=Thomas H. |last18=Kirkpatrick |first18=J. Davy |last19=Gizis |first19=John E. |last20=Howard |first20=Elizabeth V. |last21=Evans |first21=Tracey E. |last22=Fowler |first22=John W. |last23=Fullmer |first23=Linda |last24=Hurt |first24=Robert L. |last25=Light |first25=Robert M. |last26=Kopan |first26=Eugene L. |last27=Marsh |first27=Kenneth A. |last28=McCallon |first28=Howard L. |last29=Tam |first29=Robert |last30=Van Dyk |first30=Schuyler D. |last31=Wheelock |first31=Sherry L. |title=The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) |journal=The Astronomical Journal |date=1 February 2006 |volume=131 |issue=2 |pages=1163–1183 |bibcode=2006AJ....131.1163S |s2cid=18913331 |issn=0004-6256 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name="sinnott1988">{{cite book
 | editor1-first=R. W. | editor1-last=Sinnott
 | title= The Complete New General Catalogue and Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters by J. L. E. Dreyer
 | date=1988 | isbn=978-0-933346-51-2
 | publisher=[[Sky Publishing Corporation]] /[[Cambridge University Press]] }}</ref>

<ref name="ned">{{cite web
 | title=NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database
 | work=Results for Messier 60
 | url=http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/nph-objsearch?objname=Messier+60&img_stamp=yes
 | access-date=2006-12-13 }}</ref>

<ref name="jonesbook1991">{{cite book
 | first1=K. G. | last1=Jones
 | title=Messier's Nebulae and Star Clusters
 | publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
 | date=1991 | edition=2nd | isbn=978-0-521-37079-0 }}</ref>

<ref name="carnegieatlas">{{cite book
 | first1=A. | last1=Sandage | first2=J. | last2=Bedke
 | title=Carnegie Atlas of Galaxies
 | publisher=[[Carnegie Institution of Washington]]
 | date=1994 | isbn=978-0-87279-667-6 }}</ref>

<ref name=ScienceDaily-2012-09-06>{{cite news
 | publisher=[[Science Daily]]
 | title=Odd Galaxy Couple On Space Voyage
 | url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120906092527.htm 
 | date=September 6, 2012
 | access-date=2012-11-11
}}</ref>

<ref name=Vo2015>{{cite journal
 | last1=Sandoval | first1=Michael A. | last2=Vo | first2=Richard P.
 | last3=Romanowsky | first3=Aaron J. | last4=Strader | first4=Jay
 | last5=Choi | first5=Jieun | last6=Jennings | first6=Zachary G.
 | last7=Conroy | first7=Charlie | last8=Brodie | first8=Jean P.
 | last9=Foster | first9=Caroline | last10=Villaume | first10=Alexa
 | last11=Norris | first11=Mark A. | last12=Janz | first12=Joachim
 | last13=Forbes | first13=Duncan A. | display-authors=1
 | title=Hiding in Plain Sight: Record-breaking Compact Stellar Systems in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
 | journal=The Astrophysical Journal
 | date=July 23, 2015 | volume=808 | issue=1 | page=L32 
 | doi=10.1088/2041-8205/808/1/L32 |arxiv = 1506.08828
 | bibcode = 2015ApJ...808L..32S | s2cid=55254708 }}</ref>

<ref name=Shen2010>{{cite journal
 | first1=Juntai | last1=Shen | first2=Karl | last2=Gebhardt
 | title=The Supermassive Black Hole and Dark Matter Halo of NGC 4649 (M60)
 | volume=711 | issue=1 | date=2010 | pages=484–494
 | journal=The Astrophysical Journal
 | bibcode=2010ApJ...711..484S | arxiv=0910.4168
 | doi=10.1088/0004-637X/711/1/484 | s2cid=119291328 }}</ref>

<ref name=SN2004W>{{cite web
 | url=http://messier.obspm.fr/more/m060_sn2004W.html
 | title=Supernova 2004W in M60
 | date=2005 }}</ref>

<ref name=Mamon2008>{{Cite journal
 | last=Mamon | first=G. A.
 | title=The nature of the nearest compact group of galaxies from precise distance measurements
 | journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics
 | volume=486 | issue=1 | pages=113–117 | date=July 1, 2008
 | doi=10.1051/0004-6361:200809827 |issn=0004-6361
 | arxiv=0803.3181 |bibcode=2008A&A...486..113M| s2cid=3994849
 }}</ref>

<ref name=Shurkin2008>{{citation
 | title=Active galactic nuclei-induced cavities in NGC 1399 and NGC 4649
 | last1=Shurkin | first1=K. | last2=Dunn | first2=R. J. H.
 | last3=Gentile | first3=G. | last4=Taylor | first4=G. B.
 | last5=Allen | first5=S. W. | display-authors=1
 | journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
 | volume=383 | issue=3 | pages=923–930 | date=January 2008
 | bibcode=2008MNRAS.383..923S | arxiv=0710.5704
 | doi=10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.12651.x | doi-access=free | s2cid=3113470 | postscript=. }}</ref>

<ref name=Moore2004>{{citation
 | title=Supernovae 2004T, 2004U, and 2004W
 | last1=Moore | first1=M. | last2=Li | first2=W.
 | last3=Filippenko | first3=A. V. | last4=Chornock | first4=R.
 | last5=Foley | first5=R. J. | display-authors=1
 | journal=IAU Circular
 | volume=8286 | page=2 | date=February 2004
 | editor1-last=Green | editor1-first=D. W. E.
 | bibcode=2004IAUC.8286....2M | postscript=. }}</ref>

}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Messier 60}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110722021545/http://blackholes.stardate.org/directory/factsheet.php?p=M60 '''StarDate''': M60 Fact Sheet]
* {{citation
 | first1=Hartmut | last1=Frommert
 | first2=Christine | last2=Kronberg
 | title=Messier 60 | work=SEDS Messier pages
 | publisher=Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS)
 | date=August 30, 2007
 | url=http://messier.seds.org/m/m060.html
 | access-date=2018-12-12 | postscript=. }}{{WikiSky}}

{{Portal bar|Astronomy|Stars|Outer space}}
{{Virgo}}
{{Messier objects}}
{{Catalogs|M=60|NGC=4649|PGC=42831|UGC=7898|Arp=116|GC=3182}}
{{Ngc50}}
{{Sky|12|43|39.6|+|11|33|09|55400000}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Messier 60}}
[[Category:Elliptical galaxies|Messier 060]]
[[Category:Interacting galaxies|Messier 060]]
[[Category:Overlapping galaxies|Messier 060]]
[[Category:Virgo Cluster|Messier 060]]
[[Category:Virgo (constellation)|Messier 060]]
[[Category:Messier objects|060]]
[[Category:NGC objects|Messier 060]]
[[Category:UGC objects|07898]]
[[Category:Principal Galaxies Catalogue objects|42831]]
[[Category:Arp objects|116]]
[[Category:Astronomical objects discovered in 1779]]