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Messier 49

The elliptical galaxy M49 was discovered by Charles Messier in 1771. Not only was it the first object discovered in the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, but it was also the first elliptical galaxy detected outside of the Milky Way’s Local Group. Unlike spiral galaxies that have well-defined structures and picturesque spiral arms, elliptical galaxies are fairly featureless with little structure. The stars in elliptical galaxies are usually much older than those in spiral galaxies. M49 also contains a rich collection of globular star clusters — nearly 6,000.

This Hubble image of M49 was created using observations at infrared wavelengths. There is an X-ray source at the core of the galaxy, indicating that a supermassive black hole lurks at the center of M49. The estimated mass of this supermassive black hole is roughly 565 million times the mass of our sun.