| Description | The first of 9 entries added to the Messier catalog on March 8, 1781, 14 within a week. Also, the first discovery (#35) credited to Messier since M70, 5 months earlier. "Nebula without star, in Virgo; the center it is a bit brilliant, surrounded with a slight nebulosity: its brightness & its appearance resemble that of those in this Catalog, No.s 59 & 60." <--> As shown in the annotated image, M84 is the lower of the two bright galaxies. Along with M86, this is a classic pair of Messier elliptical/lenticular galaxies. As most amateur astronomers, I don't find elliptical galaxies particularly compelling unless there's something going on like a jet in M87. But I do find this trio of M84 / M86 / NGC 4402 quite attractive. There's some confusion about how to classify this pair: the NASA.gov website classifies M84 as elliptical and M86 as elliptical/lenticular. Imaged on an unexpected evening that started with poor transparency and ended up pretty good. This observation was captured in the middle of that transition. |
