Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  IC 3303  ·  IC 3355  ·  IC 3363  ·  M 84  ·  M 86  ·  NGC 4374  ·  NGC 4387  ·  NGC 4388  ·  NGC 4402  ·  NGC 4406  ·  NGC 4407  ·  NGC 4425  ·  NGC 4435  ·  NGC 4438
Virgo A (Markarian's Chain), Jan Sjoerd de Vries
Virgo A (Markarian's Chain)
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Virgo A (Markarian's Chain)

Virgo A (Markarian's Chain), Jan Sjoerd de Vries
Virgo A (Markarian's Chain)
Powered byPixInsight

Virgo A (Markarian's Chain)

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Description

Uncropped image of the center of the Virgo Cluster around M86 and M84, the western end of the Markarian Chain.

The Virgo Cluster is a cluster of galaxies whose center is 53.8 ± 0.3 Mly (16.5 ± 0.1 Mpc) away in the constellation Virgo. Comprising approximately 1300 (and possibly up to 2000) member galaxies, the cluster forms the heart of the larger Virgo Supercluster, of which the Local Group (containing our Milky Way galaxy) is a member.

Many of the brighter galaxies in this cluster, including the giant elliptical galaxies Messier 84 and 86, were discovered in the late 1770's and early 1780's and subsequently included in Charles Messier's catalogue of non-cometary fuzzy objects.

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Virgo A (Markarian's Chain), Jan Sjoerd de Vries