imaged M60 (Halifax)

Of the Burke-Gaffney Observatory I requested the target Messier 60. This is a Virgo galaxy that I viewed once and somewhat quickly, on 4 Jul '10. I wanted to have another look. Whoa.

Luminance only, 60 seconds subexposures, 10 stacked shots. FITS Liberator, GIMP. North is up; east is left.

Very nice. I forgot that M60 aka NGC 4649 proper had a companion, NGC 4647. The primary galaxy is a nearly round large elliptical with a smooth progressive halo. The nearby large galaxy to the north-west is a spiral, nearly face-on, with mottled arms. The centre looks slightly askew. The far arm is dragging behind. Is it being tugged on my M60?

Due north of Messier 60 proper is a tiny oval, oriented east-west. That is LEDA 1397198.

Barely visible to the north-west, far away, there is a very faint smudge. Just north of star J124301.1+114028. Galaxy PGC 42758.

South-west of Arp 116, far away again, cut off in the image, is half of the oval NGC 4637.

LEDA 1394064 is south-south-east of M60, also oriented east-west.

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Wikipedia: Messier 60.