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Astronomy Picture of the Day - The Galaxy, the Jet, and a Famous Black Hole
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod ^ | 4 May, 2023 | Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

Posted on 05/04/2023 1:48:47 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: Bright elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (M87) is home to the supermassive black hole captured in 2017 by planet Earth's Event Horizon Telescope in the first ever image of a black hole. Giant of the Virgo galaxy cluster about 55 million light-years away, M87 is the large galaxy rendered in blue hues in this infrared image from the Spitzer Space telescope. Though M87 appears mostly featureless and cloud-like, the Spitzer image does record details of relativistic jets blasting from the galaxy's central region. Shown in the inset at top right, the jets themselves span thousands of light-years. The brighter jet seen on the right is approaching and close to our line of sight. Opposite, the shock created by the otherwise unseen receding jet lights up a fainter arc of material. Inset at bottom right, the historic black hole image is shown in context, at the center of giant galaxy and relativistic jets. Completely unresolved in the Spitzer image, the supermassive black hole surrounded by infalling material is the source of enormous energy driving the relativistic jets from the center of active galaxy M87. The Event Horizon Telescope image of M87 has now been enhanced to reveal a sharper view of the famous supermassive black hole.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: nasa
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 05/04/2023 1:48:47 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 05/04/2023 1:49:05 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; Agatsu77; America_Right; ...
Pinging the APOD list.

πŸͺ 🌟 🌌 πŸ”


3 posted on 05/04/2023 1:49:38 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

"A Ford, Joe Namath and where your tax dollars go..."
4 posted on 05/04/2023 1:51:28 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: MtnClimber
Of course, this is what M87 looked like 55 million years ago. Probably looks a lot worse right now.

As I understand it, a phenomenon like this is going to be emitting enough heat and hard radiation to cook the entire galaxy it inhabits. An extinction-level event on a galactic scale. It's beyond comprehension.

5 posted on 05/04/2023 1:58:43 PM PDT by Joe Brower ("Might we not live in a nobler dream than this?" -- John Ruskin)
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To: MtnClimber

What’s gonna be even more exciting will be Webb’s pictures, as well as the pictures from future giant telescopes.


6 posted on 05/04/2023 2:57:54 PM PDT by telescope115 (My feet are on the ground, and my head is in the stars. A Man, and proud of it!)
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To: BenLurkin

*VERY* well played!


7 posted on 05/04/2023 4:44:13 PM PDT by Roccus (Veritas, non verba magistri)
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To: BenLurkin

πŸ‘ŒπŸ‘πŸ€¦β€β™‚οΈ....................................


8 posted on 05/05/2023 5:04:22 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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