M59 Observation Details
M59 Daily Motion
M59 will be visible until July, 26, when it will move too close to the Sun. During this time, its proximity to the Sun will cause it to disappear from the night sky, making it unobservable for a while.
M59 Visibility Timetable on December 30
Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Moon Rise, 0.4% illuminated | 08:02 | 56° |
| Moon Set | 16:49 | -33° |
| Astrosession begin | 18:53 | -38° |
| M59 rise | 23:53 | |
| Astrosession end | 06:16 | 61° |
| M59 transit | 06:32 | 62° |
| Civil sunrise | 07:23 | 60° |
| Sunrise | 07:55 | 56° |
Track M59 Position Throughout the Night
← Mon, 30 December 2024 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M59 - Elliptical Galaxy
M59 is an elliptical galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered by Johann Gottfried Koehler in 1779 and later cataloged by Charles Messier. M59 is a member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.
M59 spans about 90,000 light-years across and contains a massive population of old stars. The galaxy is approximately 60 million light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 10.6, making it visible with a small telescope.
M59 Image Gallery
DSS Blue
DSS Red
DSS Near-Infrared
DSS Composite image
The photos are taken from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2), which was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) under NASA contract, using data from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II).
Special thanks to the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, and the California Institute of Technology for their significant contributions.
Finder Chart for M59
| Object name | M59 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M59 coordinates | 12.70062, 11.64703 |
| Center coordinates | 12.70062, 11.64703 |
M59 Passage Through Night
Current position of M59
| Time | 12:19 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M59 elevation | 10° |
| M59 Azimuth | 84° |
Annual motion of M59
| Date | Tue, 31 December 2024 |
| Twighlight start | 18:49 |
| Twighlight end | 06:10 |
| Twighlight duration | 11h 21m |
| Rise | 23:53 |
| Set | 13:11 |
| Elevation at transit | 62° |
| Transit time | 06:32 |
| Equatorial coordinate | RA: 12h 42m 02s", Dec: 11° 38' 49s |
| Magnitude | 10 |
| Constellation | Virgo |
The graph is structured with the vertical axis showing the hours of the day, ranging from 12 AM to 12 AM the next day, while the horizontal axis spans each day of the year.
The reddish shaded area indicates the periods when the M59 is above the horizon, visible to observers. The white line marks the times when the celestial object reaches its highest point in the sky each day, known as the transit.
Data Credits
The nebulae information on this page is sourced from the OpenNGC project, developed by Matteo Verga. OpenNGC provides detailed data on the NGC catalog, which is a valuable resource for exploring deep-sky objects such as nebulae.
For more details or to contribute to OpenNGC, visit the official GitHub repository: OpenNGC on GitHub.