Alternate Names

NGC 4486, Virgo A

Type

Supermassive

Location

in the constellation Virgo

Finder Chart

Distance

50 million light-years (16.1 megaparsecs)

Mass

6.6 billion times the mass of the Sun

Size

Three times the diameter of Pluto's orbit around the Sun

Discovery Methods

• Measuring the motions of gas
• Measuring the motions of stars

M87

An artist's concept shows the supermassive black hole in the heart of M87. The black hole is in the center of the orange disk. The disk itself is made of hot gas spiraling into the black hole. Powerful magnetic fields funnel some of the particles in the disk into jets (left and right of the disk) that extend hundreds of thousands of light-years into space. As the particles spiral through the magnetic fields, they emit radio waves.

A ground-based view of the elliptical galaxy M87.

A radio-telescope image of the central light-year at the core of M87 shows the birth of its high-speed cosmic jets. The region close to the black hole produces the most radio energy, which is shown in red.

This Chandra image shows the M87 jet as seen in X-ray wavelengths.

A Hubble Space Telescope image shows a jet of superhot gas racing away from the nucleus of M87 at 99 percent of the speed of light. The jet spans several thousand light-years.

A Hubble Space Telescope image shows a jet of superhot gas racing away from the nucleus of M87.

This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image shows a cosmic jet shooting away from M87's nucleus, along with other streamers of hot gas. The black hole sits at the center of the bright spot of light.

Astronomers say this combination of X-ray and optical images of M87 reveals that the region near the black hole produces outbursts every six million years. The shocks are shown in a series of unevenly spaced loops and bubbles to the lower left of the center of the galaxy. More powerful outbursts occurred about 20 million and 50 million years ago.

A combination of radio (red) and X-ray (blue) wavelengths shows the "jets" of charged particles shooting away from the black hole at the center of M87.

Animation of suspected M87 black hole.

This document was last modified: May 10, 2011.