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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Эллиптическая галактика M87 http://variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1214210/eng |
Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler
Explanation:
In spiral galaxies, majestic
winding arms of young stars and
interstellar gas and dust rotate in a flat disk around a
bulging galactic nucleus.
But elliptical galaxies seem to be simpler.
Lacking gas and dust to form new stars, their
randomly swarming older stars, give them an ellipsoidal
(egg-like) shape.
Still, elliptical galaxies can be very large.
Over 120,000 light-years in diameter (larger than our own
Milky Way), elliptical galaxy M87 is the dominant
galaxy at the center
of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, some 50 million light-years away.
M87 is likely home to a supermassive
black hole responsible
for the high-energy jet of particles emerging from the giant
galaxy's central region.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.