Messier 84
elliptical or lenticular galaxy in the constellation Virgo From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Messier 84 (also known as NGC 4374) is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation of Virgo. M84 is in the heavily populated inner core of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.[1]
Radio observations and Hubble Space Telescope images of M84 have revealed two jets of matter shooting out from the galaxy's centre, as well as a disk of rapidly rotating gas and stars. This suggests there is a supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy. Its mass is 1.5 ×109 M☉, that is gravitation amounting to 15 billion solar masses.[2]
Remove ads
History
Charles Messier discovered Messier 84 in 1781 when he searched for "nebulous objects" in the night sky.[3] The object is the 84th in the Messier Catalogue.
Supernovae
Two supernovae have been observed in M84: SN 1957[4] and SN 1991bg.[5] Possibly, a third, SN 1980I is part of M84 or, alternatively, one of its neighboring galaxies, NGC 4387 and M86.[6]
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads