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,[4] 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 within the outskirts of the Virgo cluster, and is relatively isolated.[5]
Properties
M85 is extremely poor in neutral hydrogen[6] 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,[6] 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.[7] Like other massive, early-type galaxies, it has different populations of globular clusters. Aside from the typical "red" and "blue" populations, there is also a population with intermediate colors and an even redder population.[5] It is likely transitioning from being a lenticular galaxy into an elliptical galaxy.[5]
While indirect methods imply that Messier 85 should contain a central supermassive black hole of around 100 million solar masses,[8] velocity dispersion observations imply that the galaxy may entirely lack a central massive black hole.[9]
The type I supernova, 1960R was discovered in M85 on December 20, 1960 and reached an apparent magnitude of 11.7 (its effect in the telescope-resolvable sky to outshine most red dwarves a million times closer).
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.[10]
On 25th June 2020, the ATLAS telescope in Hawaii spotted a type Ia supernova 2020nlb in M85, which reached a peak magnitude of 15.7. [11][12][13]
M85 is interacting with the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 4394, and a small elliptical galaxy called MCG 3-32-38.[14]
Compared to other early-type galaxies, M85 emits a relatively smaller proportion of X-rays.[5]
