Galaxies
Messier 87 in Virgo

Messier 87 is a giant elliptical galaxy, perhaps 500,000 lightyears in diameter and 54 million lightyears distant. It is one of the most massive galaxies in our local universe, containing a supermassive black hole of billions of solar masses.

The main image has been processed to show the full extent of the galaxy, while the inset image has been partially processed, to show the core and supraluminal jet of plasma. This is almost 5000 lightyears long.

This image is the result of over 2.5h of data capture, over 2 evenings in March 2020.

ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera through a Teleskop-Service 8-inch Ritchey-Chretien reflector.

Date: 26/03/2020

Photographer: Graham Wilcock

Messier 87 in Virgo

Messier 87 is a giant elliptical galaxy, perhaps 500,000 lightyears in diameter and 54 million lightyears distant. It is one of the most massive galaxies in our local universe, containing a supermassive black hole of billions of solar masses.

The main image has been processed to show the full extent of the galaxy, while the inset image has been partially processed, to show the core and supraluminal jet of plasma. This is almost 5000 lightyears long.

This image is the result of over 2.5h of data capture, over 2 evenings in March 2020.

ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera through a Teleskop-Service 8-inch Ritchey-Chretien reflector.

Date: 26/03/2020

Photographer: Graham Wilcock