The bright elliptical galaxies of the Spire cluster, cataloged as Messier objects, are prominent in the image.
What do we see in today’s NASA image?
The Spire cluster galaxies are scattered throughout this 4-degree telescopic image. The Spire Cluster is approximately 50 million light-years away and is the closest large galaxy cluster to our own Local Group.
The bright elliptical galaxies of the Spire cluster, cataloged as Messier objects, are prominent in the image. M87 is in the bottom center of the image, M84 and M86 are visible from top to bottom in the top left of the image. M84 and M86 are part of the Markarian’s Chain. The Markarian chain is a visible row of galaxies on the left side of the image. Almost in the middle of this chain, two interacting galaxies NGC 4438 and NGC 4435 can be seen. These galaxies are known as “Markarian eyes”.
The giant elliptical galaxy M87 is undoubtedly the most prominent object in the Spire cluster. M87 is home to a supermassive black hole, the first to be imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope.
