The historic first image of a black hole was released by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration on April 10, 2019. An international team of scientists used observations with the Event Horizon Telescope, a worldwide network of eight ground-based radio telescopes, to capture an image of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the supergiant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (Virgo A).
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Messier galaxies M84 and M86 are part of Markarian’s Chain, a striking stretch of galaxies that lie along a curved line near the heart of the Virgo Cluster. The string of galaxies – which also includes NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435 – occupies more than a full degree on the border between Virgo and Coma Berenices and can be seen in an 8-inch reflector on a clear, dark night.
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Messier 91 (M91) is a barred spiral galaxy located in the Virgo Cluster, in the constellation Coma Berenices. The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of 11 and lies at an approximate distance of 63 million light years from Earth. Its designation in the New General Catalogue is NGC 4548.
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Messier 90 (M90) is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. It is a member of the Virgo Cluster. M90 lies at a distance of 58.7 million light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 10.26. Its designation in the New General Catalogue is NGC 4569.
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Messier 88 (M88) is a spiral galaxy located in the Virgo Cluster, in the constellation Coma Berenices. The galaxy lies at an approximate distance of 47 million light years and has an apparent magnitude of 10.4. It has the designation NGC 4501 in the New General Catalogue. Messier 88 occupies an area of 6.9 by 3.7 arc minutes of apparent sky, which corresponds to a spatial extension of 105,000 light years.
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Messier 87 (M87), also known as Virgo A or the Smoking Gun, is a supergiant elliptical galaxy located in the core of the Virgo Cluster, in the southern constellation Virgo. The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of 9.59 and lies at a distance of 53.5 million light years from Earth. It has the designation NGC 4486 in the New General Catalogue.
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Messier 86 (M86) is an elliptical or lenticular galaxy located in the Virgo Cluster, in the southern constellation Virgo. The galaxy lies at a distance of 52 million light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 9.8. Its designation in the New General Catalogue is NGC 4406.
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