Right ascension 12 25 24.0 Redshift 729 ± 2 km/s Apparent size (V) 7′.1 × 5′.5 | Declination +18° 11′ 28″ Type SA(s)0 pec/E2 Magnitude 10 Apparent magnitude (V) 10 | |
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Distance 60 ± 4 Mly (18.5 ± 1.2 Mpc) Similar Messier 84, Messier 90, Messier 86, Messier 80, Messier 75 | ||
Messier 85 (also known as M85 or NGC 4382 or PGC 40515 or ISD 0135852) is a lenticular galaxy, or elliptical galaxy for other authors, in the Coma Berenices constellation. It is 60 million light-years away, and it is estimated to be 125,000 light-years across.
It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. It is the northernmost outlier of the Virgo cluster discovered as of 2004.
Properties
M85 is extremely poor in neutral hydrogen and has a very complex outer structure with shells and ripples that are thought to have been caused by a merger with another galaxy that took place between 4 and 7 billion years ago, as well as a relatively young (<3 billion years old) stellar population on its centermost region, some of it in a ring, that may have been created by a late starburst.
While indirect methods imply that Messier 85 should contain a central supermassive black hole of around 100 million solar masses, velocity dispersion observations imply that the galaxy may entirely lack a central massive black hole.
The type I supernova, 1960R was discovered in M85 on December 20, 1960 and reached an apparent magnitude of 11.7.
This galaxy has also been the host of the first luminous red nova identified as such, M85 OT2006-1. It was discovered on January 7 of 2006 and took place on the outskirts of this galaxy.
M85 is interacting with the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 4394, and a small elliptical galaxy called MCG 3-32-38.