Archivo de imágenes de Hubble

Galaxy M87 Jet (anotado)

This sequence of images, taken over a 13-year span by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, reveals changes in a black-hole-powered jet of hot gas in the giant elliptical galaxy M87.The observations show that the river of plasma, traveling at nearly the speed of light, may follow the sp...

Fecha
Jan 1, 2013
Misión
Hubble Space Telescope
ID de archivo
hubblesite-images-2013-32-3228-image
Por

This sequence of images, taken over a 13-year span by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, reveals changes in a black-hole-powered jet of hot gas in the giant elliptical galaxy M87.

The observations show that the river of plasma, traveling at nearly the speed of light, may follow the spiral structure of the black hole's magnetic field, which astronomers think is coiled like a helix. The magnetic field is believed to arise from a spinning accretion disk of material around a black hole. Although the magnetic field cannot be seen, its presence is inferred by the confinement of the jet along a narrow cone emanating from the black hole. The visible portion of the jet extends 5,000 light-years.

M87 resides at the center of the neighboring Virgo cluster of roughly 2,000 galaxies, located 50 million light-years away.

The images are part of a time-lapse movie that reveals changes in the jet over more than a 13-year period. They were taken by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2006 and Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in 1995, 1998, 2001, and 2007.

Credits

NASA, ESA, E. Meyer, W. Sparks, J. Biretta, J. Anderson, S.T. Sohn, and R. van der Marel (STScI), C. Norman (Johns Hopkins University), and M. Nakamura (Academia Sinica)

Detalles de la imagen

About The Object
Object NameM87 Jet
Object DescriptionGiant Elliptical Galaxy with Jet
R.A. Position12h 30m 49s.42
Dec. Position+12° 23' 28".03
ConstellationVirgo
Distance54 million light-years (17 megaparsecs)
About The Data
Data DescriptionNote: Data used in the analysis of the M87 jet are from several different instruments and numerous Hubble proposals. The science team includes: E. Meyer, W. Sparks, J. Biretta, J. Anderson, S.T. Sohn, and R. van der Marel (STScI), C. Norman (Johns Hopkins University), and M. Nakamura (Academia Sinica)
InstrumentHST>ACS/WFC, HST>ACS/HRC, and HST>WFPC2
Exposure Dates2002 - 2006 (ACS/WFC), 2006 (ACS/HRC), and 1995 - 2008 (HST>WFPC2)
FiltersF814W (I)

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Fuente

La imagen y el material de referencia se acreditan al archivo oficial de la misión enlazado a continuación.

Ver en NASA.gov

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