Charles Messier discovered Messier 58, along with the elliptical galaxiesMessier 59 and Messier 60, on April 15, 1779.[11] M58 was reported on the chart of the Comet of 1779 as it was almost on the same parallel as the star Epsilon Virginis.[8][16] Messier described M58 as a very faint nebula in Virgo which would disappear in the slightest amount of light he used to illuminate the micrometer wires.[8][17] This description was later contradicted by John Herschel's observations in 1833 where he described it as a very bright galaxy, especially towards the middle. Herschel's observations were also similar to the descriptions of both John Dreyer and William Henry Smyth who said that M58 was a bright galaxy, mottled, irregularly round and very much brighter toward the middle.[8]
Like many other spiral galaxies of the Virgo Cluster (e.g. Messier 90), Messier 58 is an anemic galaxy with low star formation activity concentrated within the galaxy's optical disk,[18] and relatively little neutral hydrogen, also located inside its disk, concentrated in clumps,[19] compared with other galaxies of similar morphological type. This deficiency of gas is believed to be caused by interactions with Virgo's intracluster medium.
Messier 58 has a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus, where a starburst may be present[20] as well as a supermassive black hole with a mass of around 70 million solar masses.[21] It is also one of the very few galaxies known to possess a UCNR (ultra-compact nuclear ring), a series of star-forming regions located in a very small ring around the center of the galaxy.[22] This led to its being dubbed the "ring bearer galaxy" by the popular astronomy YouTube program "Deep Sky videos".[15]
Supernovae
Two supernovae have been studied in the M58 galaxy.[2] A type II supernova dubbed as SN 1988A was discovered by Kaoru Ikeya, Robert Evans, Christian Pollas and Shingo Horiguchi on January 18, 1988.[23] It had an apparent magnitude of 13.5 found 40 arcseconds south of its center.[11] A Type I supernova dubbed as SN 1989M was then found on June 28, 1989 by Kimeridze.[11] This one had an apparent magnitude of 12.2 found 33 arcseconds north and 44 arcseconds west of its nucleus.[11]