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Galaxies of the Virgo Cluster

The Virgo Cluster is extremely rich in member galaxies, with over 2000 large and small members. While most of them are very small and can only be detected with huge telescopes, there is still a very large number of promising targets for amateur astronomers, even with small telescopes, starting at 2 or 3 inch, or even binoculars; this fact is suggested already by the fact that Messier's catalog list 16 Virgo cluster members: M49, M58, M59, M60, M61, M84, M85, M86, M87, M88, M89, M90, M91, M98, M99, and M100.

Because of the huge gravity caused by the galaxy cluster's enormous mass, some of the Virgo Cluster members have been accelerated to high peculiar velocities, with respect to the cluster's center of mass, at least up to 1,600 km/sec. As the cluster is receding from us at only 1,100 km/sec, some of its members are moving toward us at considerably high blueshift rates, the highest measured for any extragalactic objects. Others happen to move into the direction away from us, and are thus receding at more than souble the velocity as the cluster. In the following, a list is given of extreme peculiar motions of Virgo Cluster member galaxies (from the Sky Catalog 2000); we give the radial velocity with respect to our Milky Way's Galactic Center:

  1. Toward us:
       IC 3258                    -517 km/s
       M86 (NGC 4406)             -419
       M90 (NGC 4569)             -383
       NGC 4419                   -342
       NGC 4318                   -300
       M98 (NGC 4192)             -220
        
  2. Away from us:
       NGC 4388                  +2535 km/s
       IC 3453                   +2489
       NGC 4607                  +2367
       NGC 4168                  +2342
       M99 (NGC 4254)            +2324
       NGC 4354                  +2305
        
Below we give a table of more Virgo Cluster galaxies, ordered by Right Ascension; the selection includes most galaxies brighter than about 11 mag visually, plus some remarkable galaxies:
NGC/IC Name  RA       Dec     Type       m_v    dim      RV     Notes

N4168 12:12.3 +13:12 E0 11.26 2.8x2.6 +2342 N4192 M98 12:13.8 +14:54 Sb I-II 10.13 9.5x3.2 - 220 N4216 12:15.9 +13:09 Sb II 9.98 8.3x2.2 + 55 SAC, RC-F 76 N4254 M99 12:18.8 +14:25 Sc I 9.84 5.4x4.8 +2324 N4267 12:19.8 +12:48 E2 10.89 3.5x3.2 +1177 N4293 12:21.2 +18:23 Sap 11.2p 6.0x3.0 + 825 N4303 M61 12:21.9 +04:28 Sc I 9.67 6.0x5.5 +1483 N4318 12:22.7 +08:12 E 14.1p 0.9x0.7 - 300 N4321 M100 12:22.9 +15:49 Sc I 9.37 6.9x6.2 +1543 I3258 12:23.7 +12:28 SBmp 13.7p 1.9x1.7 - 517 N4354=N4351 12:24.0 +12:12 SBb-p 12.65 2.0x1.4 +2305 N4365 12:24.5 +07:19 E2 10.5p 6.2x4.6 +1074 N4371 12:24.9 +11:42 SBa 10.79 3.9x2.5 + 898 N4374 M84 12:25.1 +12:53 S0 9.27 5.0x4.4 + 854 N4382 M85 12:25.4 +18:11 S0 9.22 7.1x5.2 + 718 N4388 12:25.8 +12:40 Sb 11.05 5.1x1.4 +2535 Near M86; SAC, RC-F 77 N4394 12:25.9 +18:13 SBb- 10.92 3.9x3.5 + 717 Pair with M85 N4406 M86 12:26.2 +12:57 S0 9.18 7.4x5.5 - 419 N4419 12:26.9 +15:03 Ep 11.13 3.4x1.3 - 342 N4429 12:27.4 +11:07 S0 10.16 5.5x2.6 +1029 N4435 12:27.7 +13:05 Sap 10.92 3.0x1.9 + 793 I/A with 4438; "Eyes" N4438 12:27.8 +13:01 SBa 10.08 9.3x3.9 + 182 I/A with 4435, disrupted ?; SAC, RC-F 78 N4442 12:28.1 +09:48 E5p 10.48 4.6x1.9 + 490 N4450 12:28.5 +17:05 Sb 10.12 4.8x3.5 +1990 N4459 12:29.0 +13:59 E2 10.40 3.8x2.8 +1039 N4472 M49 12:29.8 +08:00 E4 8.37 8.9x7.4 + 817 N4473 12:29.8 +13:26 E4 10.22 4.5x2.6 +2205 N4477 12:30.0 +13:38 S(B)a 10.42 4.0x3.5 +1190 N4486 M87 12:30.8 +12:24 E1 8.62 7.2x6.8 +1180 I3453 12:31.5 +14:51 Ir+ 14.9p 1.2x0.2 +2489 N4501 M88 12:32.0 +14:25 Sb+ I 9.52 6.9x3.9 +1989 N4526 12:34.0 +07:42 E7 9.64 7.2x2.3 + 355 "Lost Galaxy" (?); SAC, RC-F 80 N4535 12:34.3 +08:12 S(B)c 9.82 6.8x5.0 +1853 "Lost Galaxy" (?); SAC, RC-F 81 N4548 M91 12:35.4 +14:30 SBb 10.19 5.4x4.4 + 403 N4552 M89 12:35.7 +12:33 E0 9.81 4.2x4.2 + 165 N4567 12:36.5 +11:15 Sc 11.32 3.0x2.1 +2121 I/A with N4568, "siamese twins"; SAC, RC-F 82a N4568 12:36.6 +11:14 Sc 10.80 4.6x2.1 +2168 I/A with N4567, "siamese twins"; RC-F 82b N4569 M90 12:36.8 +13:10 Sb+ 9.48 9.5x4.7 - 383 N4570 12:36.9 +07:15 S0 10.87 4.1x1.3 +1635 N4571 12:36.9 +14:13 SBc 11.31 3.8x3.4 + 282 "M91?" in GC & NGC; pair w M91=N4548 N4579 M58 12:37.7 +11:49 Sb 9.78 5.4x4.4 +1730 N4596 12:39.9 +10:11 SBa 10.48 3.9x2.8 +1939 N4607 12:41.2 +11:53 SBb: 12.87 3.2x0.8 +2367 N4621 M59 12:42.0 +11:39 E3 9.79 5.1x3.4 + 341 N4647 12:43.5 +11:35 Sc 11.38 3.0x2.5 +1286 Pair with M60 N4649 M60 12:43.7 +11:33 E1 8.83 7.2x6.2 +1128 N4651 12:43.7 +16:24 Scp II: 10.72 3.8x2.7 + 742 N4654=I3708 12:44.0 +13.08 Sc II 10.46 4.7x3.0 + 970 N4660 12:44.5 +11:11 E5 10.99 2.8x1.9 + 944 N4689 12:47.8 +13:46 Sb+ II: 10.93 4.0x3.5 +1715 N4698 12:48.4 +08:29 Sb- II 10.66 4.3x2.5 + 864 N4710 12:49.6 +15:10 S0: 10.97 5.1x1.4 +1076 N4754 12:52.3 +11:19 SB0 10.56 4.7x2.6 +1393 Pair with NGC 4762 N4762 12:52.9 +11:14 SB0 10.22 8.7x1.6 + 878 Pair w NGC 4754, flattest; SAC, RC-F 84
Key:
NGC/IC, Name
NGC or IC number, and other name (e.g., M, or duplicate NGC/IC)
RA, Dec
Right Ascension and Declination for epoch 2000.0
Type
Galaxy type; adopted from Sky Catalog 2000
m_v
visual magnitude
dim
apparent (angular) dimension (in arc minutes)
RV
Radial velocity in km/sec relative to the Galacitic Center
Notes
Remarks and references. References:
  • SAC = SAC 110 Best NGC
  • RC-F = RASC Finest NGC

  • Hartmut Frommert
    Christine Kronberg
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    Last Modification: March 18, 1998