The heart of the Virgo Cluster near M84 and M86

The M84/M86 Region in the Virgo cluster

(UK Schmidt Telescope Photo)

In this longer exposure with a more powerful instrument, nearly exactly the

same field is photographed as in our main image for M84, but rotated 180

degrees.

The higher sensitivity for faint light reveals that the galaxies are much

larger, and thus much denser packed in this huge agglomeration. Apparently,

the faint outer halos of M84 and M86 come very close in this image (they even

seem to touch in the older scan of

this UKS image), and the fainter galaxies have grown to considerable size and

reveal impressive detail. The real extent of the fainter envelopes of these

galaxies is even more impressive on deep images

(long exposures on sensitive film).

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