Messier 84

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title: "Messier 84" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["elliptical-galaxies", "lenticular-galaxies", "virgo-cluster", "virgo-(constellation)", "messier-objects", "ngc-objects", "ugc-objects", "principal-galaxies-catalogue-objects", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1781", "discoveries-by-charles-messier", "radio-galaxies", "3c-objects", "4c-objects"] description: "Galaxy in the constellation Virgo" topic_path: "science/astronomy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_84" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Galaxy in the constellation Virgo ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox galaxy"]

Field	Value
image	[[Image:A_fascinating_core.jpg
caption	Galaxy Messier 84 in Virgo, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope
name	Messier 84
type	E1
epoch	J2000
ra
dec
dist_ly	16.83 Mpc
z
h_radial_v	999 km/s
appmag_v	9.1
absmag_v
half_light_radius_arcminsec
size_v	6.5 × 5.6
constellation name	Virgo
names	M84, NGC 4374, PGC 40455, UGC 7494, VCC 763
::

::callout[type=note] the galaxy M84 ::

| image = [[Image:A_fascinating_core.jpg|300px|Messier 84 nucleus by [[Hubble Space Telescope|HST]]]] | caption = Galaxy Messier 84 in Virgo, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope | credit = | name = Messier 84 | type = E1 | epoch = J2000 | ra = | dec = | dist_ly = 16.83 Mpc | z = | h_radial_v = 999 km/s | appmag_v = 9.1 | absmag_v = | half_light_radius_arcminsec = | size_v = 6.5 × 5.6 | constellation name = Virgo | notes = | names = M84, NGC 4374, PGC 40455, UGC 7494, VCC 763

Messier 84 or M84, also known as NGC 4374, is a giant elliptical or lenticular galaxy in the constellation Virgo. Charles Messier discovered the object in 1781 in a systematic search for "nebulous objects" in the night sky. It is the 84th object in the Messier Catalogue and in the heavily populated core of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, part of the local supercluster.

This galaxy has morphological classification E1, denoting it has flattening of about 10%. The extinction-corrected total luminosity in the visual band is about . The central mass-to-light ratio is 6.5, which, to a limit, steadily increases away from the core. The visible galaxy is surrounded by a massive dark matter halo.

Radio observations and Hubble Space Telescope images of M84 have revealed two jets of matter shooting out from its center as well as a disk of rapidly rotating gas and stars indicating the presence of a supermassive black hole. It also has a few young stars and star clusters, indicating star formation at a very low rate. The number of globular clusters is , which is much lower than expected for an elliptical galaxy.

Viewed from Earth its half-light radius, relative angular size of its 50% peak of lit zone of the sky, is , thus just over an arcminute.

Supernovae

Three supernovae have been observed in M84:

• SN 1957B (TypeIa, mag. 12.5) was discovered by Howard S. Gates on 28 April 1957, and independently by Dr. Giuliano Romano on 18 May 1957.
• SN 1980I (Type Ia, mag. 14) was discovered by M. Rosker on 13 June 1980. Historically, this supernova has been catalogued as belonging to M84, but it may have been in either neighboring galaxy NGC 4387 or M86.
• SN 1991bg (Type Ia-pec, mag. 14) was discovered by Reiki Kushida on 3 December 1991. This supernova has been studied extensively as a peculiar and underluminous Type Ia, and is now used as a template, with similar events being classified as Type Ia-91bg-like. This high rate of supernovae is rare for elliptical galaxies, which may indicate there is a population of stars of intermediate age in M84.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/M84map.png" caption="Location of M84"] ::

References and footnotes

References

1. "Messier 84".
2. "SN{{nbsp}}1957B". [[International_Astronomical_Union.
3. "SN{{nbsp}}1980I". [[International_Astronomical_Union.
4. "SN{{nbsp}}1991bg". [[International_Astronomical_Union.
5. (2012). "The nebular spectra of the Type Ia supernova 1991bg: Further evidence of a non-standard explosion". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
6. (1980). "Possible Supernova in Virgo Cluster". International Astronomical Union Circular.
7. "M 84".
8. (1991). "Supernova 1991bg in NGC 4374". International Astronomical Union Circular.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::