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Messier 88, or NHC 4501, is a spiral galaxy located at about 47 million light years in the constellation Coma Berenices. M88 is a Seyfert II galaxy (containing an active nucleus, AGN) and is classified as a morphological Type Sbc, with slightly wound arms. Its mass is comparable to the mass of our Milky Way, but the central black hole is way more massive: 80 million solar masses, 20 times more than ours. In 2017, P. Repetto et al. found that the movements of mass in the central regions of M88 are predominantly non circular. M88 does not have starburst activity in the central regions, contrary to what some Seyferts do.
Additional Information
Object
Name(s): Messier 88. M88. NGC 4501
Type: Spiral Galaxy Type Sbc
RA: 12h 31m 58s
Dec: +14º 25’ 17”
Constellation: Coma Berenices
Size (arcmin): 7×4 arcmin
Magnitude: +10.1
Distance: 47 million ly
Image
Date: 2022-04-30 to 2022-05-03
Location: Curiosity2 Observatory, New Mexico Skies, Mayhill, NM, USA
Size (arcmin): 26×22 arcmin
Telescope: 24” (61 cm) f/6.5 Reflector
Camera: FLI PL16803 (4096x4096pix)
Guiding: Astrodon MonsterMOAG off-axis guider
Total exposure: 12h 45m (L: 4h; RGB: 8h 45m)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CC 2022