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Credit & Copyright: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team
Explanation:
Enormous elliptical galaxy
Messier
87
is about 50 million light-years away.
Also known as NGC 4486, the giant galaxy holds
trillions of stars compared to the mere billions of stars in our
large spiral Milky Way.
M87 reigns as the large central elliptical galaxy in the
Virgo galaxy cluster.
An energetic jet from the giant galaxy's core
is seen to stretch outward for about 5,000 light-years
in this sharp optical and near-infrared
view from
the Hubble
Space Telescope.
In fact, the cosmic blow torch is seen across the electromagnetic spectrum from
gamma-rays
to radio wavelengths.
Its ultimate power source
is M87's central, supermassive black hole.
An image of this monster in the middle of M87 has been captured by
planet Earth's
Event Horizon Telescope.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: M 87
Publications with words: M 87
See also: