Characteristics
The cluster is a fairly heterogeneous mixture of spirals and ellipticals. As of 2004, it is believed that the spirals of the cluster are distributed in an oblong prolate filament, approximately four times as long as it is wide, stretching along the line of sight from the Milky Way. The elliptical galaxies are more centrally concentrated than the spiral galaxies.
The cluster is an aggregrate of at least three separate subclumps: Virgo A, centered on M87, a second centered on the galaxy M86, and Virgo B, that surrounds M49. Of the three, Virgo A, formed by a mixture of elliptical, lenticular, and -usually- gas-poor spiral galaxies, is the dominant one, with a mass of approximately 1014 solar masses, which is approximately an order of magnitude larger than the other two subclumps.
The three subgroups are in the process of merging to form a larger single cluster and are surrounded by other smaller galaxy clouds, mostly composed of spiral galaxies, known as Cloud N, Cloud S, and Virgo E that are in the process of infalling to merge with them., plus other farther isolated galaxies and galaxy groups (like the galaxy cloud Coma I) that are also attracted by the gravity of Virgo to merge with it in the future. This strongly suggests the Virgo cluster is a dynamically young cluster that is still forming.
Other two nearby aggregations known as Cloud M and Cloud W seem to be background systems independent of the main cluster.
The large mass of the cluster is indicated by the high peculiar velocities of many of its galaxies, sometimes as high as 1,600 km/s with respect to the cluster's center.
The Virgo cluster lies within the Virgo Supercluster, and its gravitational effect slows down the nearby galaxies. The large mass of the cluster has the effect of slowing down the recession of the Local Group from the cluster by approximately ten percent.
Read more about this topic: Virgo Cluster