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| Galaxy M 87 (which is also known as NGC 4486) is a giant elliptical galaxy some 50 million light years distant toward the constellation Virgo, in the Virgo cluster of galaxies. Galaxy M 87 is one of the brightest radio sources in the sky. The image shows the nucleus (visible as the orange object in the upper left corner of the image) and the jet (visible as the wispy blue feature stretching from the nucleus toward the lower left corner of the image) of galaxy M 87. The jet, which is largely responsible for the radio emission of the galaxy, is powered by gas falling toward a black hole at the very center of galaxy M 87, of mass some 2 billion times the mass of the Sun. Electrons in the gas radiate visible and radio emission as they spiral along strong magnetic fields. |
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