One of the most prominent members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies that straddles the border between Virgo and Coma Berenices. M86 falls just within the northern borders of Virgo, and forms part of a linear structure of galaxies running through the central parts of the cluster known as Markarian's Chain.
M86 lies near the western end of Markarian's Chain, a string of galaxies running through the Virgo Cluster. Other members of the Chain are also visible here: ellipticalM84 to the west, and the interacting pair known as the Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4435 and NGC 4438) to the west, to which M86 is itself tenuously connected. Imagery provided by Aladin sky atlas
As it passes through the cluster, M86 interacts gravitationally with other member galaxies, at present this is especially true of NGC 4438, one of the Eyes Galaxies that lie close by to the east in the sky. M86's progress through the cluster has left it with some unusual features: not only does it leave behind a trail of gas and particles as it travels, but it also has streams of orbiting material within its halo that betray its destruction of other less massivegalaxies in the past (or possibly of globular clusters, of which M86 hosts a halo of about four thousand).
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