M98
Messier 98 or M98 (also designated NGC 4192) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 10.1 and its angular diameter is 9.5x3.2 arc-minutes. M98 lies at an estimated distance of 60 million light years. The Equinox 2000 coordinates are RA= 12h 13.9m, Dec= +14° 55´ which makes M98 best seen during the spring. The Messier Spring Star Chart shows the position of all Messier objects visible during that season.
The image above shows the uncropped view of galaxies M98 (right) and M99 (left) through the Takahashi E-180 Astrograph (North is up). The bright star 6 Comae Berenices is located about 30 arc-minutes east of M98. A 3x enlargement of this image centered on M98 appears to the right.
This spiral galaxy was discovered by P. Méchain in 1781. It is a member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. According to Stoyan et al. (2010), the distance of M98 is 44.2 million light years and its diameter is 126,000 light years. Its estimated mass is 200 billion solar masses.
For more information, see the Messier Catalog as well as specific entries for M98 in Wikipedia and SEDS.
Messier's Description of M98
April 13, 1781)
`Nebula without star, of an extremely faint light, above the northern
wing of the Virgin [Virgo], on the parallel and close to the star
no. 6, fifth magnitude, of the hair of Berenice [Coma Berenices],
according to Flamsteed. M. Méchain saw it on Mar 15, 1781.'
Technical Details
- Object: M98
- Other Names: NGC 4192
- Object Type: spiral galaxy
- Object Data: Apparent Magnitude = 10.1, Angular Size = 9.5x3.2 arc-minutes
- Object Position (Equinox 2000): RA= 12h 13.9m, Dec= +14° 55´, Constellation = Coma Berenices
- Date/Time: 2011 Apr 02 at 05:33 UTC
- Location: Bifrost Astronomical Observatory, Portal, AZ
- Mount: Astro-Physics 1200GTO
- Telescope: Takahashi Epsilon 180 Hyperbolic Astrograph
- Camera: Canon EOS 550D (Rebel T2i) (modified with a Baader UV/IR filter)
- Field of View: 1.70° x 2.56° at 1.7 arc-sec/pixel (web version: 10.0 arc-sec/pixel)
- Exposure: 4 x 300s, f/2.8, ISO 800
- File Name: M98M99-01w.jpg
- Processing (Adobe Camera Raw): Graduated Filter, Vignetting Correction, Noise Reduction, White Balance, Curves
- Processing (Photoshop CS5): Average Images, Curves, Noise Reduction
- Original Image Size: 3454 × 5179 pixels (17.9 MP); 11.5" x 17.3" @ 300 dpi
- Rights: Copyright 2011 by Fred Espenak. All Rights Reserved. See: Image Licensing.