Messier 85 (NGC 4382): An Intriguing Haze in a Cluster of Galaxies

As with many galaxies, M85 is a difficult object to view from light-polluted suburbs. It usually takes some patience and averted vision on behalf of the suburban amateur astronomer to find these objects. Still, when a galaxy enters an eyepiece (usually looking like a wisp of smoke), it’s a great experience knowing the light is from millions of light years away from a massive galaxy.

Messier 85 happens to be one of the brightest galaxies among the Como-Virgo cluster and is best viewed in May. So if you are a backyard astronomer fighting light pollution, be sure to give this object a try.

M85 has properties between an elliptical and lenticular galaxy, which means it has a large disc (like a spiral galaxy) but doesn’t have spiral arms (like the spiral arms in our Milky Way). It’s even more intriguing as most believe it’s a merger of two galaxies. And in recent history, two supernovas have been witnessed in the galaxy: one in 1960 and the other in 2020. ¹

Pierre Mechain first recorded M85 in 1781—see his comments near the bottom of this page.

My Observations

M85 is a wisp of smoke in my eyepiece. At first, I wasn’t sure I was looking at it. However, as I moved the telescope left and right slowly, I could tell the little cloud was moving. Also, I noticed in photographs a brighter star in the visual field. As an additional check, my wife happened to come out for a few minutes and join me. She confirmed, for my aging eyes, that the little cloud wasn’t simply a smear on the lens.

Key Stats

Constellation	Coma Berenices
Best Viewing	Spring
Visual Magnitude	+9.0
Absolute Magnitude	-22.2
Distance from Earth	58 million yrs
Diameter	116000 ly
Apparent Size	7.0 x 5.3 arcmin
Milky Way Location	NA
My Viewing Grade	C+
Designations	NGC 4382, PGC 40515, ISD 0135852

Historical Observations

M85 was discovered by Pierre Méchain on March 4, 1781. Weeks later, his colleague Charles Messier recorded the following passage on March 18, 1781.

“Nebula without star, above & near to the ear of the Virgin [Virgo], between the two stars in Coma Berenices, No.s 11 & 14 of the Catalog of Flamsteed: this nebula is very faint. M. Méchain had determined its position on March 4, 1781.” ²

Years later on March 23, 1827, John Herschel recorded M85:

“Very bright; round; brighter toward the middle; 2′ diameter; has a star at position angle 80deg north preceding [NW] at distance 30″ from the edge.” ²

Sources and Notes

Banner photo of M85: Produced by ESA/HUBBLE and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Details here.

¹ Information@eso.org. (n.d.). The darkness within? http://www.spacetelescope.org. Retrieved May 23, 2022, from https://esahubble.org/images/potw1905a/

² Guy McArthur, H. F. (n.d.). Messier 85. Retrieved May 22, 2022, from http://www.messier.seds.org/Mdes/dm085.html

Sketch by Wayne McGraw