M96

The largest member of the Leo I Group (which indeed is sometimes known as the 'M96 Group') a small group of galaxies on the fringes of the immense Virgo Supercluster. With nearby M95, M96 forms a pair of galaxies in the sky, and together with six other major galaxies (and a collection of lesser galactic structures) they make up the Leo I Group. In the sky, M96 falls slightly to the south of the seated form of Leo the Lion.

M96 lies about thirty-three million light years from the Milky Way, slightly farther than neighbouring M95. It is some eighty thousand light years in diameter, making the entire spiral a little smaller than the Milky Way Galaxy.

Structurally the galaxy belongs to the SAB class of intermediate spirals; that is, spirals with a central bar that is not fully formed and distinct. In fact M96 has a double-barred structure, with one bar forming inside another, giving rise to a broad and bright central region feathered with the spiralling dust formations. These dark whorls reach out to a ring of brighter material, and from there tenuous arms spiral out into intergalactic space.