Messier 84 or M84, also known as NGC 4374 is a member of a dynamic pairing with M86. A round giant elliptical galaxy some 80,000 light-years wide, M84 shines across 55 million light-years of space. It resides in the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, the nearest of the large extragalactic populations. M84 is visually part of Markarian’s Chain, a string of eight galaxies that form a 1.5°-long line that shines like flying paper lanterns at the core of the Virgo Cluster. Armenian astrophysicist Benjamin Markarian discovered this feature in the 1960s, noting that these galaxies share a common motion through space. However, later observations have shown that M84 is not a dynamical member of the chain, as its motion does not jive with the rest.
Messier 86 (also known as M86 or NGC 4406) is a 9th-magnitude elliptical/lenticular galaxy at the core of the Virgo Cluster, lying only 17′ from M84. Messier discovered it together with M84, saying the two “nebulae” had the same appearance. On the surface, they do. With its smooth-looking face, M86, like M84, gets gradually fainter the further you look away from the core. And at a glance, M86 may appear only slightly larger than M84 through a small telescope. But this is an illusion created by the galaxy’s lower surface brightness. M86 is, in fact, twice the apparent diameter of M84 and is slightly more elliptical. M86’s 400 billion stars span a whopping 135,000 light-years.
Reference:
https://www.astronomy.com/astronomy-for-beginners/101-must-see-cosmic-objects-m84-and-m86/Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120ED Telescope, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at 0F, 81x60 seconds guided exposures, Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in DSS and PixInsight. Image Date: May 26, 2023. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
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