M96 Group

The M96 Group is the Leo I Group, which is a group of galaxies in the constellation Leo. It contains between 8 and 24 galaxies, and includes three Messier objects. The group is one of many groups that lies within the Virgo Supercluster. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, 8 Delta Cephei variable stars were found in the brightest galaxy of the group, M96, and were able to derive its distance from the Cepheid period-luminosity relation: M96 is 231+/-13 times more remote from us than the Large Magellanic Cloud, thus 12.7+/-0.8 Mpc (41+/-2 million light years).