The Virgo Cluster is the massive and nearest galaxy cluster to our Local Group with approximately 2000 galaxies which are connected together by mutual gravity. It is the discovery by Charles Messier. The cluster is named Virgo cluster as it is seen in the direction of the constellation Virgo.It is located at a distance of 5 107 light years. The cluster is filled with stars and hot gases many of which are visible with the telescope. It subtends an arc of approximately 7.5 degrees centered at 53.8±0.3 Mly in the constellation Virgo. It has a diameter of 15 million (approx) light years. It holds the total mass of approximately 1.2 quadrillion times the mass of the Sun. The giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 is the largest member of the cluster.
The Virgo cluster has a very complex and irregular structure. It is the heterogenous mixture of spirals, ellipticals and irregulars where spirals are distributed in an oblong prolate filament and ellipticals are more centrally concentrated. 58% of galaxies are spirals, 27% are ellipticals and 15% are irregular in the Virgo cluster. It has three separate subclumps centered on M87, M86 and M49. Among these M87 is the brightest .
The cluster is so massive with the strong gravitational attraction that the galaxies are drawn towards it through the Virgo-centric flow.Our Galaxy is also being pulled towards it. The Virgo cluster is still on the course of forming and shaping its galaxies over next billion years.