M87

From South Dublin Astronomical Society

M87
Type	Elliptical galaxy
NGC	NGC 4486
Constellation	Virgo
Right Ascension	12h 30.8m
Declination	+12° 24'
Magnitude	8.6
Size	7 arc min.
Image:M87 messier image.jpg

M87 is a true giant and lies at the heart of the great Coma-Virgo galaxy throng. This huge elliptical measures some half a million light years across — considerably more than our own Milky Way — and is surrounded by a swarm of thousands of globular clusters. Very deep photographs show a curious jet of material being shot out from the core. In recent years, this feature has even been seen visually by some experienced observers using large telescopes under superb sky conditions. M87 lies 60 million light years away. In binoculars, you’ll need to carefully “star hop” to the location of the galaxy. First sweep 5° a little south of west of Epsilon Virginis to magnitude 4.8 Rho where you’ll also see two slightly fainter stars either side of it. Then scan 3¼° to the northwest and you may spot the magnitude 9 galaxy as a tiny spot of light. Don’t despair if you cannot find the galaxy because this is one of the real taxing objects of the handbook. As you gain in experience, it’s a challenge you can tackle in time.