This deep image shows the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87, surrounded by over 1,300 of its globular clusters and with the famous central jet; a powerful stream of material that is ejected from the galaxy's supermassive black hole. Also visible are many satellite galaxies that orbit around M87 as well as faint foreground dust in our own Milky Way.

Messier 87 is a giant elliptical galaxy located in the Virgo galaxy cluster, approximately 55 million light-years away from Earth. It is a massive elliptical galaxy, with a diameter of around 120,000 light-years and a mass estimated to be around 2 trillion times that of the Sun. It is one of the largest galaxies in the nearby universe, and is located at the center of the Virgo galaxy cluster, which contains over 1,000 galaxies.

The central jet of M87 is one of the most spectacular astrophysical phenomena in the universe. It extends more than 5,000 light-years from the galaxy's core and emits intense radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to gamma rays. The jet is powered by the accretion of matter onto the supermassive black hole, which has a mass of approximately 6.5 billion times that of the Sun.
On April 10, 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration released the first-ever image of the shadow of a black hole. The target was the supermassive black hole at the center of M87. By comparing the observed size of the black hole's shadow to models of black hole accretion and spacetime geometry, astronomers have been able to estimate the mass of the black hole to be around 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. This makes it one of the most massive black holes known.

In addition to its central jet, M87 is also known for its rich population of globular clusters. In this deep image over 1300 of M87's globular clusters are visible! These are dense, spherical clusters of stars that orbit the galaxy's core. M87 has one of the largest populations of globular clusters of any galaxy, with an estimated 12,000 clusters in total. The globular clusters in M87 are among the brightest in the universe, with many of them visible even in small telescopes. The clusters are thought to be some of the oldest objects in the universe, with ages of up to 13 billion years.

Resolution ............... 0.765 arcsec/px
Rotation ................. -1.044 deg
Reference system ......... ICRS
Focal distance ........... 1456.60 mm
Pixel size ............... 5.40 um
Field of view ............ 42' 23.3" x 31' 54.8"
Image center ............. RA: 12 30 48.242 Dec: +12 22 59.30
Image bounds:
top-left .............. RA: 12 32 13.893 Dec: +12 39 18.30
top-right ............. RA: 12 29 20.224 Dec: +12 38 33.77
bottom-left ........... RA: 12 32 16.084 Dec: +12 07 23.06
bottom-right .......... RA: 12 29 22.768 Dec: +12 06 38.63

Image details:
Date: 17 nights, March - May 2022
Exposure: LRGB: 1216:220:225:250 mins, total 31 hours 51 mins @ -25C
Telescope: Homebuilt 12.5" f/4 Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand