Messier 85 (also known as M85 or NGC 4382) is a lenticular galaxy (type S0) in the Coma Berenices constellation. It is 60 million light years away, making it the 94th most distant Messier object, and it estimated to be 125,000 light years across. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. It is the northern most outlier of the Virgo cluster. The type I supernova, 1960R was discovered in M85 on Dec 20, 1960 and reached an apparent magnitude of 11.7. M85 is interacting with the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 4394, and a small elliptical galaxy called MCG 3-32-38.

Image’s by Debra Holton

M85_DH01