Its that time of year when the evening skies are well situated for prime-time viewing of the "Realm of Galaxies" existing in the constellations Virgo and Coma Berenecies. Mention observing galaxies in either of these clusters to beginning and many more advanced amateurs, and you may as well recall Dante’s description of the inscription at the entrance to Hell: "Abandon all hope, you who enter!" Well, its not really that bad. True, its easy to get lost observing in the Coma and Virgo clusters. Real easy . Even the experienced get lost more often than they’d like to admit. If you want to spend a lot of time observing galaxies in this part of the sky, I suggest that you perfect your skills at star-hopping in other parts of the sky, and then return here with the aid of large scale star-charts such as those represented by Uranometria or Sky Atlas 2000. Take your time in locating your target galaxies. This is no place to hurry. Double-check each move you make as you star-hop. One wrong star-hop and you’ll be hopelessly lost. The key in star-hoping here is to start from a known point, one that you can reliably return to in order to regain your orientation. As with all observing, but particularly of galaxies, observe from the darkest possible location. The presence of any light pollution significantly interferes with your ability to observe this class of objects.

Here we provide only one star-hop. However, master this one star-hop, and you'll never truly be lost in the countless galaxies of Virgo.

We start with the constellation Leo which is high overhead, but south of the Zenith at this time of year. Locate the western most major star in Leo, Denebola, Beta (b ) Leonis. This is our starting point. If you can locate Denebola, you’ll never get lost. Starting at Denebola, extend an imaginary line east-southeast about 18 degrees, or a little more than the distance spanned by your index finger and little finger held wide against the night sky at arms length, to the star Vindemiatrix, Epsilon (e ) Virginis, located in the constellation Virgo. Remember how to find Virgo because if you can find Virgo, you’ll be able many of the star-hops that follow.

The galaxies M84 (NGC 4374) and M86 (NGC 4406) are located halfway between Denebola and Vindemiatrix. Here, you should find two bright galaxies located close to each other. The larger of the two, M84, is also brightest and is about three times the size of M86, which should also appear dimmer as well. Most eyepieces will show both galaxies in the same field of view. In fact, once you’ve located these galaxies, it’s generally a good idea to examine them at the highest possible power. Looking at deep sky objects at high power has two advantages. First, using higher powers increases the relative darkness of the background in the field of view, enhancing the contrast and making the deep sky object easier to see. Second, in using higher power, the deep sky object appears larger with its light spread over an increased part of the field of view, which makes it easier for the eye to detect the deep sky object and any details that might be otherwise unseen. Here, in a field of view of about 2 degrees (figure below, north is up and east is to the left), once you find M84-M86, you’ll also notice that you’ll find the large prominent galaxy, M87 (NGC 4486) as well, located just a little more than 1 degree to the southeast of M86.

Interested in star-hoping to M87? Do it telescopically. You do this by simply moving your eyepiece so that M86-M84 are in the northwest corner of your eyepiece. Then you should be able to find M87 located southwest of M86-M84. Also notice that there are a large number of other galaxies in the field of view as well. This suggests the importance of having good star charts if you plan to spend much time in the Virgo – Coma Berenices clusters of galaxies.

Observing M84 at low power will show a compact halo with a bright nucleus taking up about half of the area of the galaxy. At higher powers you may observe mottling in the galaxy as well. As you observe M86 at moderate powers it appears larger than M84 and with a brighter halo and a very bright nucleus. At higher powers M86 also seems mottled in appearance. At moderate powers, M87 has a bright nucleus and is round in shape. At very high powers some structure is visible, but the rest of the galaxy has begun to fade from view.

While you are in the area of M86 and M84, try to locate NGC 4388 and NGC 4387. Together with M84 and M86, they comprise "The Galactic Smiley-Face" as noted by club member, Rich Jakiel. If you find NGC 4402, you might see that as an eye-brow on the smiley-face! Once again, take your time star-hopping here. Wander the paths of the Coma and Virgo clusters with your way lit by galaxies. Here, you are looking millions of years back in time as you experience fossil photons dating from even before the dinosaurs. Enjoy !