Messier 90
Galaxy in the constellation Virgo
title: "Messier 90" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["intermediate-spiral-galaxies", "virgo-cluster", "virgo-(constellation)", "messier-objects", "ngc-objects", "ugc-objects", "principal-galaxies-catalogue-objects", "arp-objects", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1781", "discoveries-by-charles-messier"] description: "Galaxy in the constellation Virgo" topic_path: "science/astronomy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_90" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Galaxy in the constellation Virgo ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox galaxy"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Messier 90 |
| image | [[File:Messier 90 - HST.png |
| caption | Messier 90 taken by Hubble |
| epoch | J2000 |
| constellation name | Virgo |
| editor | R. W. Sinnott |
| title | The Complete New General Catalogue and Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters by J. L. E. Dreyer |
| date | 1988 |
| publisher | Sky Publishing Corporation/Cambridge University Press |
| isbn | 978-0-933346-51-2 |
| ra | |
| title | NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database |
| work | Results for NGC 4569 |
| url | http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/ |
| access-date | 2006-02-01 |
| dec | |
| size_v | 9.5 × 4.4 moa |
| size | 132,200 ly (40.55 kpc) (estimated) |
| appmag_v | 9.5 |
| type | SAB(rs)ab, LINER, Sy |
| h_radial_v | |
| z | |
| gal_v | |
| dist_ly | 58.7 ± |
| names | NGC 4569, UGC 7786, PGC 42089, Arp 76 |
| references | SIMBAD: Search M90 |
| :: |
| name = Messier 90 | image = [[File:Messier 90 - HST.png|300px]] | caption = Messier 90 taken by Hubble | epoch = J2000 | constellation name = Virgo | editor=R. W. Sinnott | title= The Complete New General Catalogue and Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters by J. L. E. Dreyer | date=1988 | publisher=Sky Publishing Corporation/Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-933346-51-2 | ra = | title=NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database | work=Results for NGC 4569 | url=http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/ | access-date=2006-02-01 | dec = | size_v = 9.5 × 4.4 moa | size = 132,200 ly (40.55 kpc) (estimated) | appmag_v = 9.5 | type = SAB(rs)ab, LINER, Sy | h_radial_v = |z = | gal_v = |dist_ly = 58.7 ± | names = NGC 4569, UGC 7786, PGC 42089, Arp 76 | references = SIMBAD: Search M90
Messier 90 (also known as M90 and NGC 4569) is an intermediate spiral galaxy exhibiting a weak inner ring structure about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1781. | author=K. G. Jones | date=1991 | edition= 2nd | title=Messier's Nebulae and Star Clusters | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-37079-0
Membership of the Virgo Cluster
Messier 90 is a member of the Virgo Cluster, | author=B. Binggeli | author2=A. Sandage | author3=G. A. Tammann | date=1985 | title=Studies of the Virgo Cluster. II - A catalog of 2096 galaxies in the Virgo Cluster area. V - Luminosity functions of Virgo Cluster galaxies | volume=90 | pages=1681–1759 | bibcode=1985AJ.....90.1681B | doi= 10.1086/113874 | journal=The Astronomical Journal | author=A. Sandage | author2=J. Bedke | date=1994 | title=Carnegie Atlas of Galaxies | publisher=Carnegie Institution of Washington | isbn=978-0-87279-667-6 | author=R. A. Koopmann | author2=J. D. P. Kenney | date=2004 | title=Hα Morphologies and Environmental Effects in Virgo Cluster Spiral Galaxies | journal=The Astrophysical Journal | volume=613 | issue= 2 | pages=866–885 | bibcode=2004ApJ...613..866K | doi= 10.1086/423191 |arxiv = astro-ph/0406243 | s2cid=17519217 | author=Boselli, A. | author2=Cuillandre, J. C. | author3=Fossati, M. | author4=Boissier, S. | author5=Bomans, D. | author6=Consolandi, G. | author7=Anselmi, G. | author8=Cortese, L. | author9=Cote, P. | author10=Durrell, P. | author11=Ferrarese, L. | author12=Fumagalli, M. | author13=Gavazzi, G. | author14=Gwyn, S. | author15=Hensler, G. | author16=Sun, M. | author17=Toloba, E. | date=2016 | title=Spectacular tails of ionised gas in the Virgo cluster galaxy NGC 4569 | journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics | volume=587 | pages=A68 | bibcode=2016A&A...587A..68B |arxiv = 1601.04978| doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201527795| s2cid=53841566 | url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/18073/1/18073.pdf?DDD25+pncg48+dul4eg}}
Star formation activity
As stated above, the star formation in Messier 90 appears truncated. Consequently, the galaxy's spiral arms appear to be smooth and featureless, rather than knotted like galaxies with extended star formation, which justifies why this galaxy, along with NGC 4921 in the Coma Cluster has been classified as the prototype of an anemic galaxy. |last1=Bergh |first1=S. |date=1976 |title=A new classification system for galaxies |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=206 |pages=883–887 |bibcode=1976ApJ...206..883V |doi=10.1086/154452 |doi-access=free |last1=Moran |first1=S. M. |display-authors=4 |last2=Ellis |first2=R. S. |last3=Smith |first3=G. P. |last4=Rich |first4=R. M. |last5=Smail |first5=J. |date=2007 |title=A Wide-Field Survey of Two z ~ 0.5 Galaxy Clusters: Identifying the Physical Processes Responsible for the Observed Transformation of Spirals into S0s |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=671 |issue=2 |pages=1503–1522 |bibcode=2007ApJ...671.1503M |doi=10.1086/522303 |arxiv = 0707.4173 |s2cid=14325264
However, its center appears to host significant nebula and star formation, where around 50,000 stars of spectral types O and B that formed around 5 to 6 million years ago | author=Gabel, J. R. | author2=Bruhweiler, F. C. | date=2002 | title=The Central Starburst and Ionization Mechanism in the LINER/H II Region Transition Nucleus in NGC 4569 | journal=The Astronomical Journal | volume=124 | issue=2 | pages=737–750 | bibcode=2002AJ....124..737G | doi=10.1086/341376 |arxiv = astro-ph/0204371 | s2cid=119421698 | author=Chyży, K. T. | display-authors=4 | author2=Soida, M. | author3=Bomans, D. J. | author4=Vollmer, B. | author5=Balkowski, Ch. | author6=Beck, R. | author7=Urbanik, M. | date=2006 | title=Large-scale magnetized outflows from the Virgo Cluster spiral NGC 4569. A galactic wind in a ram pressure wind | journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics | volume=447 | issue=2 | pages=465–472 | bibcode=2006A&A...447..465C | doi=10.1051/0004-6361:20053819 | arxiv=astro-ph/0510392| s2cid=17027396 }}
Multiple supernovae (up to 100,000) in the nucleus have produced 'superwinds' that are blowing the galaxy's interstellar medium outward into the intracluster medium | first1=D. |last1=Tschöke |first2=D. J. |last2=Bomans |first3=G. |last3=Hensler |first4=N. |last4=Junkes | date=2001 | title=Hot halo gas in the Virgo cluster galaxy NGC 4569 | journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics | volume=380 | issue=1 | pages=40–54 | bibcode=2001A&A...380...40T | doi=10.1051/0004-6361:20011354 | doi-access=free | author=Kenney, J. D. P. | author2=Crowl, H. | author3=van Gorkom, J. | author4=Vollmer, B. | date=2004 | title=Spiral Galaxy - ICM Interactions in the Virgo Cluster | journal=Symposium - International Astronomical Union | volume=217 | pages=370–375 | bibcode=2004IAUS..217..370K |arxiv = astro-ph/0403129 | doi=10.1017/S0074180900197979 | s2cid=18764568 }}
Blueshift
The spectrum of Messier 90 is blueshifted, which indicates that, net of non-aligned vectors of motion, the gap between it and our galaxy is narrowing. The spectra of most galaxies are redshifted. The blueshift was originally used to argue that Messier 90 was actually an object in the foreground of the Virgo Cluster. However, since the phenomenon was limited mostly to galaxies in the same part of the sky as the Virgo Cluster, it appeared that this inference based on the blueshift was incorrect. Instead, many blueshifts exhibit the large range in velocities of objects within the Virgo Cluster.
Distance measurements
Low levels of H I gas prevents using the Tully–Fisher relation to estimate the distance to Messier 90.
Companion galaxies
Messier 90 is rich in globular clusters, with around 1,000 of them. The galaxy IC 3583 was once thought to be a satellite of Messier 90; however, it is now thought they are too far away to be interacting at all.
Gallery
Messier90 - SDSS DR14 (panorama).jpg|Messier 90 imaged by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Messier90 - GALEX.jpg | Messier 90 imaged by GALEX
Notes
uses a Hubble constant of 75 (km/s)/Mpc to estimate a distance of 16.8 Mpc to NGC 4569. Adjusting for the 2006 value of 70 (km/s)/Mpc we get a distance of 18.0 Mpc.
References
References
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