M49 — galaxy, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.
The luminous giant of southern Virgo — a smooth elliptical ball of ancient stars, the first galaxy in which a globular-cluster system was ever detected beyond our own.
M49 is placed at its true position on the sky and at its real measured distance, not as a flat backdrop. Fly out from the Sun in the live 3D view and watch it change from a point of light into structure as you approach, with the scale bar showing just how far out you have travelled.