Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  M 87  ·  NGC 4476  ·  NGC 4478  ·  NGC 4486
M87 - Eliptical Galaxy, Greg Allegretti
M87 - Eliptical Galaxy
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M87 - Eliptical Galaxy

M87 - Eliptical Galaxy, Greg Allegretti
M87 - Eliptical Galaxy
Powered byPixInsight

M87 - Eliptical Galaxy

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Description

M87 is a giant elliptical galaxy in the Coma-Virgo cluster. It's one of the two large galaxies at the center of the cluster that have been consuming smaller elliptical and spiral galaxies.

At the core of M87 is an enormous black hole (3 billion suns) that is expelling a jet of material. This ejected material flows with velocities that approach the speed of light. Another jet exists at the opposite side, but due to relativistic effects, only the jet which flowing toward us is visible here.

M87 is 60 million light years distant beyond our Milky Way.

This image was captured under high desert skies near Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA with a telescope of 12" aperture at f/8 and an electrically-cooled CCD camera. This photo was processed to reveal the jet of material which is usually obscured by the over-exposed central core of the galaxy.

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M87 - Eliptical Galaxy, Greg Allegretti