M87 — Hubble · Messier 87 · NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: P. Cote (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics) and E. Baltz (Stanford University)

Virgo Galaxy

Galaxy in Virgo · 53.5 million light-years

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Type	Galaxy
Constellation	Virgo
Right ascension	12h 30m 49s
Declination	+12° 23′
Object distance	53.5 million light-years
Apparent magnitude	9
Apparent size	7.1′ (arc-minutes)
Approx. true diameter	110,494 light-years across
Also known as	M87 · NGC 4486

Messier 87, popularly known as the Virgo Galaxy, is a galaxy (also catalogued as NGC 4486) in the constellation Virgo — an island of billions of stars far beyond our own Milky Way. It was recorded by Charles Messier in his famous catalogue of 110 deep-sky objects. It spans roughly 7.1 arc-minutes on the sky. At about magnitude 9, it shows up well in a small backyard telescope.

Although it appears about 7.1′ wide on the sky, its real span is roughly 110,494 light-years — the difference is a measure of how far away it lies.

Observing Virgo Galaxy

Virgo Galaxy lies in the constellation Virgo and is best placed in the evening sky around March. Its maximum altitude above the horizon depends on your latitude. Lying near the celestial equator, it can be seen from both hemispheres. A small backyard telescope will show it; binoculars may hint at it under dark skies. Note that the listed magnitude is spread across the whole object — diffuse galaxies and nebulae are often harder to see than the number alone suggests, so dark, moonless skies help a great deal.

See Virgo Galaxy in Universe Finder

Open the interactive 3D map to fly to Virgo Galaxy and see it in context among the real stars around it. Launch the 3D view →

Sources

Position, magnitude and angular size from the OpenNGC catalogue (Mattia Verga).
Object identity cross-referenced with SIMBAD (CDS, Strasbourg).
Image credits and the original observation source are linked with each photograph.

Related objects

Andromeda Galaxy — galaxy
Triangulum Galaxy — galaxy
Whirlpool Galaxy — galaxy
Sombrero Galaxy — galaxy
Messier 110 — galaxy