Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  M 87  ·  NGC 4478  ·  NGC 4486  ·  Virgo Galaxy
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M87 with plasma jet from Pōwehi, Phillip Hahn
M87 with plasma jet from Pōwehi
Powered byPixInsight

M87 with plasma jet from Pōwehi

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M87 with plasma jet from Pōwehi, Phillip Hahn
M87 with plasma jet from Pōwehi
Powered byPixInsight

M87 with plasma jet from Pōwehi

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

The supermassive black hole in M87 was the first black hole to be directly imaged in 2019. This image has recently been updated with data from the magnetic fields surrounding the black hole which is about 53 million light years from earth.

I was wondering if I could image the black hole indirectly using my telescope and found that the relativistic jet does extend at least 5000 light years from the core of the galaxy. That set the target and I was absolutely thrilled when the first subs came in with the jet shooting out of M87 being clearly visible. Interestingly, the jet got completely covered up by the glow of the galaxy when stacking the images. I ended up stacking just 40 of my one minute subs and got to learn some new photoshop techniques to tame the bright surroundings of M87.

I am really happy that this project worked out so well!

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

M87 with plasma jet from Pōwehi, Phillip Hahn