M87
noirlab_noao-m87block February 20th, 2014
Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Adam Block
In the heart of the Virgo cluster of galaxies lies a giant- and in its heart lies a monster. This elliptical galaxy is larger than our galaxy as it is 120,000 light years in diameter. However, since it is spherical in volume astronomers estimate that this ball of stars weighs in at over 2 trillion solar masses (of sun-like stars!). In this image many small fuzzy balls surround the galaxy. Each of these is a globular cluster which contains hundreds of thousands of stars. And finally the seemingly innocuous spike emanating from the core of the galaxy is a luminous stream of accelerated gas (almost the speed of light) having been driven from a black hole in the heart of M87. There are many companion galaxies that orbit this overbearing galaxy. This image was taken as part of Advanced Observing Program (AOP) program at Kitt Peak Visitor Center during 2014.
Provider: NOIRLab
Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-m87block/
Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA
Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
-
View Options
Download Options
-
Full Size Image
(1747 x 1178)
Source TIFF (4.42 MB)
- Additional Sizes (JPG)
- 320 x 215 (23.5 KB)
- 1280 x 863 (166 KB)
- 500 x 337 (35.1 KB)
- 1600 x 1078 (262 KB)
- 1024 x 690 (109 KB)
Image Details
Position Details
Color Mapping
- ID
- noao-m87block
- Subject Category
- Subject Name
- M87
- Credits
- KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Adam Block
- Release Date
- 2014-02-20T13:49:41
- Lightyears
- Redshift
- Reference Url
- https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-m87block/
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Distance Notes
- Facility
- Visitor Center 0.5-meter Telescope, Visitor Center 0.5-meter Telescope, Visitor Center 0.5-meter Telescope, Visitor Center 0.5-meter Telescope
- Instrument
- Other CCD, Other CCD, Other CCD, Other CCD
- Color Assignment
- Luminosity, Blue, Green, Red
- Band
- Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
- Bandpass
- Broad Band, B, G, R
- Central Wavelength
- 555, 438, 475, 625
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- None, None, None, None
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- J2000
- Reference Value
- 187.717236773, 12.3888918983
- Reference Dimension
- 1747.0, 1178.0
- Reference Pixel
- 741.611999512, 644.966106415
- Scale
- -0.00011827722942, 0.000118309155085
- Rotation
- 4.6641965544936
- Coordinate System Projection:
- TAN
- Quality
- Full
- FITS Header
- Notes
- Creator (Curator)
- NSF's NOIRLab
- URL
- https://noirlab.edu
- Name
- Telephone
- Address
- 950 North Cherry Ave.
- City
- Tucson
- State/Province
- AZ
- Postal Code
- 85719
- Country
- USA
- Rights
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
- Publisher
- NSF's NOIRLab
- Publisher ID
- noirlab
- Resource ID
- noao-m87block
- Resource URL
- http://noirlab.edu/public/media/archives/images/original/noao-m87block.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2021-08-30T16:28:42+02:00
- Metadata Version
- 1.1
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
