M58
NGC 4579
20’ x 15’ | 0.3”/px | 4000 × 3000 px
Virgo
RA 12h 37m Dec +11° 49’ | 0°
Discovered in 1779 by Charles Messier, M58 was one of the first galaxies recognized to have a spiral shape and is one of four barred spiral galaxies in Messier’s catalog. M58 is one of the brightest galaxies in the constellation Virgo. Located roughly 62 million light-years from Earth, M58 is the most distant Messier object. Although it appears bright, M58’s core is relatively dim compared to other spiral galaxies. The core contains high rates of star formation, known as starburst activity. It also houses a supermassive black hole around 70 million times the mass of our Sun. A very small ring around the galaxy’s nucleus, known as an ultra-compact nuclear ring, is a main region of widespread starburst activity in M58 and is a rare phenomenon among galaxies. Long arms extend out from the galaxy’s bright nucleus. However, a lack of hydrogen means that there is very little star formation activity in the arms. This could be the result of gravitational interactions with the nearby galaxies of the Virgo cluster. Two supernovas have been detected in M58, one in 1988 and the other in 1989.
source: NASA Science
Data Acquisition
Data was collected over 8 nights during March and April 2025, using a 14” reflector telescope with full-frame camera at the remote observatory in Spain. Data was gathered using standrad LRGB filters. A total of 20 hours of data was combined to create the final image.
Location Remote hosting facility IC Astronomy in Oria, Spain (37°N 2°W)
| Sessions | Moon% | Moon° | Hum% | SQM | T°C | Frames | Exposure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20250318b | 79 | 49 | 85 | 20.7 | 8 | 52 | 2h 52m |
| 20250324 | 23 | 139 | 75 | 21.5 | 5 | 30 | 2h 14m |
| 20250327 | 2 | 156 | 65 | 21.6 | 8 | 122 | 7h 06m |
| 20250328 | 0 | 164 | 50 | 21.5 | 10 | 17 | 1h 13m |
| 20250330 | 5 | 151 | 75 | 21.6 | 5 | 13 | 1h 05m |
| 20250401 | 20 | 123 | 60 | 21.4 | 10 | 46 | 3h 18m |
| 20250404b | 52 | 81 | 70 | 20.4 | 9 | 30 | 1h 42m |
| 20250418 | 68 | 90 | 75 | 21.5 | 10 | 10 | 0h 30m |
| Total | 320 | 20h 00m |
| Frames | Bin | Gain | Exp.(s) | Frames | Exposure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lum | 1 | 0 | 180 | 200 | 10h 00m |
| Red | 1 | 0 | 300 | 40 | 3h 20m |
| Green | 1 | 0 | 300 | 40 | 3h 20m |
| Blue | 1 | 0 | 300 | 40 | 3h 20m |
| Total | 320 | 20h 00m |
Equipment
Telescope
Mount
Camera
Filters
Guiding
Accessoires
Software
Planewave CDK14 (2563mm @ f/7.2), Optec Gemini Rotating focuser
10Micron GM2000HPS, custom pier
Moravian C3-61000 Pro (full frame), cooled to -10 ºC
Chroma 2” LRGB unmounted, Moravian filterwheel L, 7-position
Unguided
Compulab Tensor I-22, Dragonfly, Pegasus Ultimate Powerbox v2
Voyager Advanced, Viking, Mountwizzard4, Astroplanner, PixInsight 1.9.3
Processing
All processing was done in Pixsinsight unless stated otherwise. Default features were enhanced using scripts and tools from RC-Astro, SetiAstro, GraXpert, CosmicPhotons and others. Images were calibrated using 50 Darks, 50 Flats, and 50 Flat-Darks, registered and integrated using WeightedBatchPreProcessing (WBPP). The processing workflow diagram below outlines the steps taken to create the final image.
When using BlurXTerminator, the non-stellar sharpening is usually applied at 0.9. However, sometimes in galaxies this can give some exaggerated artefacts in the galaxy arms. This time a more modest 0.75 non-stellar sharpening was applied, which gives just a little bit more of a natural looking result.
The rest of the processing followed a standard processing workflow.
Processing workflow (click to enlarge)
This image has been published on Astrobin.
