Messier 86

Messier 86 (also known as NGC 4406 ) is a lenticular galaxy 8.9 likes bright with a surface area of 10.2 '× 6.8 ' in the constellation Virgo.

M86 is located in the center of the Virgo cluster of galaxies in the vicinity of the giant galaxy M87. Previously, her type was specified in the Hubble sequence with E3 ( flattened elliptical), but modern authors give more to the lenticular type S0. The galaxy falls dynamically in clusters of galaxies in particular by their high blue shift. The galaxy approaches of our Milky Way, with over 400 km / s, resulting in a peculiar velocity of about 1700 km / s relative to the center of gravity of the cluster results in one of the largest peculiar velocities in the Virgo cluster at all.

M86 belongs to the so-called Markarjan'schen chain, a group of galaxies in an area of about 1.5 degrees in diameter.

Discovery

The galaxy NGC 4406 was discovered on 18 March 1781 by the French astronomer Charles Messier.