NGC 4552

Messier 89 (NGC 4552) is an elliptical galaxy of type E0 — nearly perfectly spherical in shape — in the constellation Virgo, approximately 50–60 million light-years away and a member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. Charles Messier discovered it on March 18, 1781. NGC 4552's circular outline is one of the most symmetrical of all Messier's galaxies; whether this represents a true sphere or an ellipsoid seen nearly end-on cannot be determined from a single two-dimensional projection. Like most giant ellipticals in the Virgo Cluster, its light is dominated by old red and yellow stars with little ongoing star formation.

Despite its placid surface appearance, deep imaging reveals that M89 is surrounded by large-scale structure extending far beyond its visible disk: faint shells, streams, and haze that appear to envelop the galaxy. This material may be remnant tidal debris from past merger events or intracluster material associated with the broader Virgo Cluster environment rather than the galaxy itself. NGC 4552 harbors a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus — a mildly accreting supermassive black hole at its center — and is surrounded by a modest system of several thousand globular clusters. A faint jet has been detected at radio wavelengths, though M89 is far less radio-loud than its neighbor M87.

In a small telescope M89 appears as a round, featureless glow quite similar to neighboring M90 in the same field; distinguishing it from M90 requires noting that M89 is more compact and lacks the slight elongation of M90. This image was made at the Kitt Peak National Observatory 0.9-meter telescope in April 1995.