M81, Bode’s Galaxy (NGC 3031), Ursa Major. RA 09:55 33, DEC 69:04
M81 is a large spiral similar to the Milky Way, 12 million light years distant. This one is a classic spiral with the spiral arms thick with hot young stars, contrasting with the older redder stars at the core. M81 is well within the reach of amateur astronomers with it’s large size and brightness, it can also be seen with it’s neighbour M82 together in the same view, quite a stunning sight. This is a rewarding galaxy for amateur astronomers in the northern hemisphere, but telescopes larger than 8 inches in aperture are needed to see any spiral structure. M81 is at magnitude 7.9
Galaxy M81
M82, The Cigar Galaxy (NGC 3034), Ursa Major. RA 09:55 52, DEC 69:40 47
M82 is a starburst galaxy 12 million light years away, this galaxy is 5 times brighter than the whole Milky Way, and 100 times brighter than our Galaxy’s centre. One of the best amateur astronomy sights is M81 and M82 in the same view, they form a striking pair, two island universes together in one glimpse. M82 is a starburst galaxy and the Hubble Telescope has seen 197 young massive clusters in the galaxy’s core. This is a very energetic and hectic environment and stars are being born at a rate 10 times faster than they are in the Milky Way. This is probably due to an encounter with it’s close neighbour M81 several hundred million years ago. M82 is at magnitude 9.3
Galaxy M82, The Cigar Galaxy (right)
M83, The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy (NGC 5236), Hydra. RA 09:55 52, DEC 69:40 47
M83 is a graceful barred spiral galaxy 15 million light years away, it is one of the closest and brightest of it’s type and can be seen with binoculars. Six supernova have been seen in this galaxy, M83 is at magnitude 8.2
Galaxy M83
M84 (NGC 4374), Virgo. RA 12:25 04, DEC 12:53 13
M84 is a giant lenticular galaxy in the famous Virgo Cluster of galaxies, right at the heart of this great cluster. Studies from the Hubble Telescope have discovered two high speed jets of matter shooting outwards from M84′s core, together with a disk of rapidly rotating material in the galaxy’s centre suggesting a super massive black hole weighing in at 300 million solar masses. Two supernova have also been seen in this galaxy. It is one of the brighter members of the Virgo Cluster and is at magnitude 9.1
Galaxy M84
M85 (NGC 4382),Coma Berenices. RA 12:25 24, DEC 18:11 28
M85 is a lenticular galaxy 60 million light years away in the north of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. It is larger than the Milky Way at 125,000 light years across, and fairly similar to M84. M85 is at magnitude 10.0
Galaxy M85 (right), with spiral galaxy NGC 4364 (left)
M86 (NGC 4406), Virgo. RA 12:26 12, DEC 12:56 46
M86 is a lenticular galaxy dominating the heart of The Virgo Cluster with M84, M86 is also one of the brightest galaxies in the cluster. It is also one of the few blue shifted galaxies approaching us at the fastest rate of any other galaxy, 419 km/sec. This is probably due to the effect of the enormous mass of the Virgo Cluster on M86. M84 and M86 can be viewed together in the same low power field of view, and can act as a central point to explore the rest of the Virgo Cluster. M86 is at magnitude 8.9
Galaxy M86
M87 , Virgo A (NGC 4486), Virgo. RA 12:30 49, DEC 12;23 28
M87 is the famous giant elliptical galaxy at the centre of the Virgo Cluster and the largest and brightest in the region. M87 is 55 million light years away and 120,000 light years across, making it 20,000 light years wider than the Milky Way Galaxy. But it contains far more stars than our Galaxy does in terms of volume, packing in several trillion solar masses. This giant elliptical has an active galactic nucleus, a strong radio source as well as other wavelengths. Shooting out of it’s core is a 5,000 light year long jet travelling at near light speed. The culprit for this jet is a super-massive black hole at 2.8 billion solar masses, the jet consists of matter ejected from the galaxy. The jet is thought to be travelling out from the accretion disk of material that is spinning around the black hole. Estimates have put M87′s population of globular clusters at 15,000, the Milky Way has 150 to 200 globulars. M87 is a popular target for both amateur and professional astronomers and it’s the largest and brightest to Earth. M87 is at magnitude 8.6
Galaxy M87
M88 (NGC 4501), Coma Berenices. RA 12:31 59, DEC 14:25 14
M88 is a large bright spiral galaxy in the Virgo Cluster 47 million light years away, and 130,000 light years across which puts it at a larger diameter than M87. M88 is travelling away from us at 2,000 km/sec, and is tilted at an angle of about 30 degrees. M88 is one of the more impressive spirals that can be seen in smaller telescopes, and looks similar the the Andromeda Galaxy. M88 is at magnitude 9.6
Galaxy M88
M89 (NGC 4552), Coma Berenices. RA 12:35 40, DEC 12:33 23
M89 is an elliptical galaxy in the Virgo galaxy cluster, it is nearly completely circular and a beautiful example of it’s type. There are around 2,000 globular clusters in this galaxy’s halo, and it also has a surrounding structure of dust and gas up to 150,000 light years from the galaxy. M89 is at magnitude 10.7
Galaxy M89
M90 (NGC 45689), Virgo. RA 12:36 50, DEC 13:09 46
M90 is a spiral galaxy and another member of the fantastic Virgo Cluster, 60 million light years away. M90 is near the very centre of the cluster with M87 and has lost much of it’s dust and gas due to it’s interaction with the intra-cluster medium, this is the super heated gas at the centre of galaxy clusters. So M90′s spiral arms look smooth and featureless and have no knots of star formation, although star formation seems to be going on in the centre of the galaxy. M90 is at magnitude 10.3
Galaxy M90
