Celestial Objects
Messier 59
Galaxies
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Messier 59, also known as M59 or NGC 4621, is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo and a member of the Virgo Cluster, discovered by the German astronomer Johann Gottfried Koehler in 1779 and independently observed by Charles Messier the same year. It lies roughly 60 million light-years from Earth and, like many Virgo Cluster ellipticals, hosts a large population of globular clusters, estimated in the thousands.
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