| Description | The third of 9 entries added to the Messier catalog on March 8, 1781, also (#36) credited to Messier. "Nebula without star, in Virgo, on the parallel & very near to the nebula above, No. 84: their appearances are the same, & both appear together in the same field of the telescope." <--> As shown in the annotated image, M86 is the higher of the two bright galaxies. Along with M84, 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. |
