Object name: M088
Designation(s): M088,
M88 is one of the brighter members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies; known to amateurs as \"The Realm of the Galaxies\". The cluster is located about 60 million light-years away which makes it the nearest major galaxy cluster containing thousands of galaxies. A few dozen were bright enough for Messier to see in his very small telescope. M88 is one of 8 galaxies he found in one night. He had no idea what they were or anything but they looked like fuzzy spots of light not much different than a comet looked in his scope. In fact, he listed these so he and other comet hunters wouldn\'t be fooled into thinking they\'d found a comet. Other comet hunters would tell him of their discoveries of such objects as well. From these observations, he came up with a list now known as M objects. Rather than be famous for comet discoveries as he intended he became famous for his list instead.M88 is a many armed spiral. Some spirals have only one arm, many have two or three but a few have many short spiral arm segments. M88 falls into this last category. You can read a bit more about it at:http://ftp.seds.org/messier/m/m088.htmlThe obvious galaxy below M88 is VCC 1400. It likely is another member of the Virgo cluster and thus a dwarf galaxy. Though it isn\'t related to M88 as their redshifts are too different.This is another early image taken when I couldn\'t deal with moon gradients all that well. As a result, it doesn\'t go nearly as faint as it would if processed today.14\" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10\' RGB=2x10x3, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME
Permanent link: http://images.mantrapskies.com/catalog/MESSIER/M088/M88L4X10RGB2X10X3R3.jpg
Alternate Designation(s): 2MASS J12315915+1425134, 2MASX J12315921+1425134, 2MASXi J1231591+142513, 87GB 122926.9+144138, 87GB[BWE91] 1229+1441, AKARI J1231597+142501, ALFALFA 1-339, CGCG 099-076, CGCG 1229.4+1442, CXO J123159.1+142513, CXO J123159.15+142513.1, EVCC 2153, FAUST V095, GB6 J1231+1425, HDCE 0720 NED142, HIPASS J1231+14, IRAS 12294+1441, IRAS F12294+1441, LDCE 0904 NED168, LGG 285:[G93] 017, LQAC 187+014 014, M088, MCG +03-32-059, MESSIER 088, NGC 4501, NGC 4501:[L2011a] X0003, NSA 141585, PGC 041517, UGC 07675, USGC U490 NED150, UZC J123159.1+142515, VCC 1401, VPC 0840, [AHG2014] B183, [BEC2010] HRS 190, [M98j] 174 NED147, [RHM2006] SFGs 011, [VCV2001] J123159.3+142513, [VCV2006] J123159.3+142513, [WB92] 1229+1441,