NGC 4394 and Messier 85 (RGB)

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These two galaxies are in Coma Berenices but are part of the huge Virgo Cluster of galaxies. M85, the larger galaxy on the right is either a face-on lenticular galaxy or an elliptical galaxy. A lenticular galaxy is a disk shaped galaxy that doesn’t have spiral structure. An elliptical galaxy is essentially a huge ball of stars. The smaller galaxy, NGC 4394 is a barred spiral galaxy.

NGC 4394 is about 39 million light years away while M85 is 60 million light years away. M85 is a much, much bigger galaxy. It’s 1.5 times more distant and is still twice the apparent size of the closer galaxy!

For all the technical details see astrobin.

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