Messier 85 is a member of the Virgo cluster of galaxies which is located in the constellation Coma Berenices. The current object is also known as LEDA 40515, M85, and NGC 4382. The galaxy lies about 50 million light-years away from Earth. On March 4, 1781, it was found by Charles Messier’s partner Pierre Méchain. This discovery is currently again being validated for a thorough investigation.
This nebulous object and the entire celestial region are being studied along with 7 other discoveries made in the exact same location in the night sky. The Messier 85 is exciting owing to the unique properties as it lies between n elliptical galaxy and a lenticular. The new object has been found to interact with two of its surrounding galaxies including a spiral galaxy named NGC 4394 located on the upper left and a tiny elliptical galaxy MCG 3-32-38 situated on the center bottom. At least 4–7 billion years ago, the researchers believe to have the time Messier 85 emerged from another galaxy. The current discovery has been found to have almost 400 Billion stars and most of which are old ones. At the center, there is a population consisting of 3 billion years old young stars.
The stars are expected to have formed by a late star explosion during the star formation which is likely the reason believed to have activated the ancient merger. There are a number of potential unique qualities that Messier 85 possesses. Every galaxy is assumed to include a supermassive black hole located right in the center and after the velocities measurements and calculations, it is very unclear whether there is a black hole present in Messier 85. Professor Sera Markoff from the University of Amsterdam and also a co-lead of Multiwavelength Working Group have planned on using the Event Horizon Telescope’s (EHT) observations to reveal the first-ever picture of a black hole shadow by the first half of this year.
