Hubble image archive
M87 Compass Image
Caption A Hubble Space Telescope image of the giant galaxy M87 with color key, scale bar, and compass shows a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma blasting from the galaxy's 6.5-billion-solar-mass central black hole. The blowtorch-like jet seems to cause stars to erupt along its t...
- Date
- Sep 26, 2024
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2024-008-01j718kzz0hcfe4bqfdhnenzxf
Caption
A Hubble Space Telescope image of the giant galaxy M87 with color key, scale bar, and compass shows a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma blasting from the galaxy's 6.5-billion-solar-mass central black hole. The blowtorch-like jet seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory. These novae are not caught inside the jet, but are apparently in a dangerous neighborhood nearby. During a recent 9-month survey, astronomers using Hubble found twice as many of these novae going off near the jet as elsewhere in the galaxy. The galaxy is the home of several trillion stars and thousands of star-like globular star clusters.
Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | M87 |
| Object Description | Elliptical galaxy with jet |
| R.A. Position | 12:30:49 |
| Dec. Position | +12:23:28 |
| Constellation | Virgo |
| Distance | 53 million light-years |
| Dimensions | Image is 1.5 arcmin across (about 24,000 light-years) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The HST observations include those from program (E. Baltz) and program (M. Shara). Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) |
| Instrument | WFC3 |
| Exposure Dates | December 2005 - March 2006 and November 2016 to July 2017 |
| Filters | F275W, F606W |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3/UVIS instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Two filters were used to sample wide wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Cyan= F275W, Orange= F606W |
| About The Image | |
| Compass and Scale Image | An astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made. |
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
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