M85

lenticular galaxy · Virgo Cluster · in Coma Berenices

58.4 million light-years from Earth

The northernmost of the Virgo Cluster's Messier galaxies. Faint shells and ripples round it, a double nucleus and a young-looking centre suggest that it merged with another galaxy not long ago. Its central black hole, if it has one, is smaller than expected for so bright a galaxy.

• 58.4 million light-years · about 117,000 light-years across
• no black hole found: under 100 million Suns

kind

galaxy

catalogue

M85 · NGC 4382

size

117,000 light-years across