Messier 49
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Messier 49 is a giant elliptical galaxy located in the constellation Virgo, roughly 56 million light-years from Earth. It's notable as one of the first galaxies ever discovered beyond the Milky Way and remains one of the brightest elliptical galaxies we can observe from Earth.
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Messier 49 (also known as M49 or NGC 4472) is a giant elliptical galaxy about 56 million light-years away in the equatorial constellation of Virgo. This galaxy was discovered by astronomer Charles Messier in 1777.
As an elliptical galaxy, Messier 49 has the physical form of a radio galaxy, but it only has the radio emission of a normal galaxy. From the detected radio emission, the core region has roughly 10 erg (10 J or 10 YJ) of synchrotron energy. The nucleus of this galaxy is emitting X-rays, suggesting the likely presence of a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of 5.65 × 10 solar masses, or 565 million times the mass of the Sun (M☉). X-ray emissions shows a structure to the north of Messier 49 that resembles a bow shock. To the southwest of the core, the luminous outline of the galaxy can be traced out to a distance of 260 kpc.