Messier 66

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Galaxy in the constellation Leo

title: "Messier 66" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["intermediate-spiral-galaxies", "leo-triplet", "leo-(constellation)", "messier-objects", "ngc-objects", "ugc-objects", "principal-galaxies-catalogue-objects", "arp-objects", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1780", "articles-containing-video-clips", "discoveries-by-charles-messier"] description: "Galaxy in the constellation Leo" topic_path: "science/astronomy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_66" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Galaxy in the constellation Leo ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Galaxy"]

Field	Value
name	Messier 66
image	File:Phot-33c-03-fullres.jpg
caption	A colour-composite image of M66
epoch	J2000
type	SAB(s)b
ra
dec
dist_ly	9.6 Mpc
z	()
appmag_v	8.9
size_v	9.1 × 4.2
size	85,200 ly (26.12 kpc) (estimated)
constellation name	Leo
notes	Galaxy in the Leo Triplet
names	Arp 16, NGC 3627, PGC 34695, UGC 6346
::

Messier 66 or M66, also known as NGC 3627, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the southern, equatorial half of Leo. It was discovered by French astronomer Charles Messier on 1 March 1780, who described it as "very long and very faint". This galaxy is a member of a small group of galaxies that includes M65 and NGC 3628, known as the Leo Triplet or the M66 Group. M65 and M66 are a common object for amateur astronomic observation, being separated by only .

M66 has a morphological classification of SABb, with striking dust lanes and bright star clusters along sweeping spiral arms.

Gravitational interaction from its past encounter with neighboring NGC 3628 has resulted in an extremely high central mass concentration; a high molecular to atomic mass ratio; and a resolved non-rotating clump of H I material apparently removed from one of the spiral arms. The latter feature shows up visually as an extremely prominent and unusual spiral arm and dust lane structures as originally noted in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.

Supernovae

Five supernovae have been observed in M66:

SN 1973R (Type II, mag. 14.5) was discovered by Leonida Rosino on 19 December 1973.
SN 1989B (Type Ia, mag. 13) was discovered by Robert Evans on 30 January 1989.
SN 1997bs (type uncertain, mag. 17) was discovered by the Lick Observatory Supernova Search (LOSS) on 15 April 1997. This event was initially classified as a Type IIn supernova, but later analysis suggests that it is instead either a luminous blue variable, a "gap" transient, or a luminous red nova.
SN 2009hd (Type II, mag. 15.8) was discovered by Libert (Berto) Monard on 2 July 2009.
SN 2016cok (Type IIP, mag. 16.6) was discovered by the All Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae on 28 May 2016.

Gallery

File:Sig05-016.jpg|alt=A "False Color" Version of Messier 66 by the SST (Spitzer Space Telescope)|Infrared false color view of M66 from the Spitzer Space Telescope File:Infrared_false_color_view_of_M66_from_the_Jamess_Webb_Telescope.jpg|alt=A "False Color" Version of Messier 66 by the James Webb Space Telescope|Infrared false color view of M66 from the James Webb Space Telescope File:Messier 066 2MASS.jpg|Messier 66 by 2MASS File:Messier 66 - NGC 3627 - GALEX.png|An ultraviolet image of Messier 66 by GALEX

References

| date=15 June 2016 | postscript=. | first1=Hartmut | last1=Frommert | first2=Christine | last2=Kronberg | url=http://messier.seds.org/m/m066.html | title=Spiral Galaxy M66 | access-date=2018-12-03 }}

| title=Deep-Sky Companions: The Messier Objects | first1=Stephen James | last1=O'Meara | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2014 | isbn=978-1107018372 | page=248 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fDQZAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA248 }} It is recorded as discovered by Pierre Méchain, but apparently this is an error.

| title=Hunting for Supermassive Black Holes in Nearby Galaxies With the Hobby-Eberly Telescope | last1=van den Bosch | first1=Remco C. E. | last2=Gebhardt | first2=Karl | last3=Gültekin | first3=Kayhan | last4=Yıldırım | first4=Akin | last5=Walsh | first5=Jonelle L. | display-authors=1 | journal=The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series | volume=218 | issue=1 | id=10 | pages=13 | date=May 2015 | doi=10.1088/0067-0049/218/1/10 | bibcode=2015ApJS..218...10V | arxiv=1502.00632 | s2cid=117876537 | postscript=. }}

| title=No X-ray detection of SN2016cok by Swift XRT | last1=Sutaria | first1=Firoza | last2=Ray | first2=Alak | journal=The Astronomer's Telegram | volume=9189 | pages=1 | date=June 2016 | postscript=. | bibcode=2016ATel.9189....1S }}

| title=A Catalog of Visually Classified Galaxies in the Local (z ~ 0.01) Universe | last1=Ann | first1=H. B. | last2=Seo | first2=Mira | last3=Ha | first3=D. K. | display-authors=1 | journal=The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series | volume=217 | issue=2 | pages=27–49 | date=2015 | bibcode=2015ApJS..217...27A | doi=10.1088/0067-0049/217/2/27 | arxiv=1502.03545 | s2cid=119253507 | postscript=. }}

| 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 }}

| last1=de Vaucouleurs | first1=G. | last2=de Vaucouleurs | first2=A. | last3=Corwin | first3=H. G. Jr. | last4=Buta | first4=R. J. | last5=Paturel | first5=G. | last6=Fouque | first6=P. | title=Third reference catalogue of bright galaxies | version=9 | display-authors=1 | date=1991 | publisher=Springer-Verlag | location=New York }}

| title=NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database | work=Results for NGC 3627 | postscript=. | url=http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/objsearch?objname=m66&extend=no&hconst=73&omegam=0.27&omegav=0.73&corr_z=1&out_csys=Equatorial&out_equinox=J2000.0&obj_sort=RA+or+Longitude&of=pre_text&zv_breaker=30000.0&list_limit=5&img_stamp=YES | access-date=2006-08-31 }}

| last1=Zhang | first1=Xiaolei | last2=Wright | first2=Melvyn | last3=Alexander | first3=Paul | display-authors=1 | title=High-Resolution CO and H i Observations of the Interacting Galaxy NGC 3627 | journal=Astrophysical Journal | postscript=. | volume=418 | page=100 | date=1993 | bibcode=1993ApJ...418..100Z | doi=10.1086/173374 | doi-access=free }}

References

indicating a spiral shape with a weak [[Barred spiral galaxy. bar feature]] and loosely wound [[Spiral arm. arms]]. The [[isophote. 696.3. 12.7
Rosino, L.. (3 January 1974). "Supernova in NGC 3627". Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, [[International Astronomical Union.
"SN{{nbsp}}1973R". [[International Astronomical Union.
(1989). "Supernova 1989B in NGC 3627". International Astronomical Union Circular.
"SN{{nbsp}}1989B". [[International Astronomical Union.
(1997). "Supernova 1997bs in NGC 3627". International Astronomical Union Circular.
"SN{{nbsp}}1997bs". [[International Astronomical Union.
(2000). "SN 1997bs in M66: Another Extragalactic η Carinae Analog?". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
(2021). "A systematic reclassification of Type IIn supernovae". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
(2025). "The fate of the progenitors of Luminous Red Novae: Infrared detection of LRNe years after the outburst".
(2009). "Supernova 2009hd in M66". Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams.
"SN{{nbsp}}2009hd". [[International Astronomical Union.
"SN{{nbsp}}2016cok". [[International Astronomical Union.
Lewis, Danny. "Spy Two Supernovae in June's Night Sky".
"NGC 3627".
(1 February 2006). "The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)". The Astronomical Journal.

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