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M87 Compass Image

Image titled "M87, HST/WFC3/UVIS" with color key, scale bar and compass arrows on a black background of space. The M87 galaxy resembles a translucent, fuzzy white cotton ball. The brightness decreases gradually out in all directions from a bright white point of light at the center. A wavy blue-white jet of material extends from the point-like core outward to the upper right, about halfway across the galaxy. Stars speckle the background. At upper left is a color key, showing which Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 filters were used to create the image and which color is assigned to each filter: F275W, blue; F606W, orange. A scale bar labeled "6400 light-years over 25 arcseconds" is in the bottom left corner of the image. At the bottom right corner of the image are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 9 o'clock. The north arrow points to the 12 o'clock direction.

A Hubble Space Telescope image of the giant galaxy M87 with color key, scale bar, and compass shows a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma blasting from the galaxy's 6.5-billion-solar-mass central black hole. The blowtorch-like jet seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory. These novae are not caught inside the jet, but are apparently in a dangerous neighborhood nearby. During a recent 9-month survey, astronomers using Hubble found twice as many of these novae going off near the jet as elsewhere in the galaxy. The galaxy is the home of several trillion stars and thousands of star-like globular star clusters.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    12:30:49
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +12:23:28
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Virgo
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    53 million light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is 1.5 arcmin across (about 24,000 light-years)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    The HST observations include those from program 10543 (E. Baltz) and program 14618 (M. Shara). Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    WFC3
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    December 2005 - March 2006 and November 2016 to July 2017
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F275W, F606W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    M87
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Elliptical galaxy with jet
  • Release Date
    September 26, 2024
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Finds that a Black Hole Beam Promotes Stellar Eruptions
    Read the release
  • Credits
    NASA, ESA, Alec Lessing (Stanford University), Edward Baltz (Stanford University), Michael Shara (AMNH); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Downloads

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    jpg (1.02 MB)
Image titled "M87, HST/WFC3/UVIS" with color key, scale bar and compass arrows on a black background of space. The M87 galaxy resembles a translucent, fuzzy white cotton ball. The brightness decreases gradually out in all directions from a bright white point of light at the center. A wavy blue-white jet of material extends from the point-like core outward to the upper right, about halfway across the galaxy. Stars speckle the background. At upper left is a color key, showing which Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 filters were used to create the image and which color is assigned to each filter: F275W, blue; F606W, orange. A scale bar labeled "6400 light-years over 25 arcseconds" is in the bottom left corner of the image. At the bottom right corner of the image are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 9 o'clock. The north arrow points to the 12 o'clock direction.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3/UVIS instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Two filters were used to sample wide wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Cyan= F275W, Orange= F606W

Related Images & Videos

An artist's concept looks down into the core of the galaxy M87, which is just left of center and appears as a large blue dot. A bright blue-white, narrow and linear jet of plasma transects the illustration from center left to upper right. It begins at the source of the jet, the galaxy’s black hole, which is surrounded by a blue spiral of material. At lower right is a red giant star that is far from the black hole and close to the viewer. A bridge of glowing gas links the star to a smaller white dwarf star companion immediately to its left. Engorged with infalling hydrogen from the red giant star, the smaller star exploded in a blue-white flash, which looks like numerous diffraction spikes emitted in all directions. Thousands of stars are in the background.

Black Hole Jet and Accompanying Erupting Nova (Artist's Concept)

This is an artist's concept looking down into the core of the giant elliptical galaxy M87. A supermassive black hole ejects a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma, traveling at nearly the speed of light. In the foreground, to the right is a binary star system. The system is far...

A Hubble photo of galaxy M87, which resembles a translucent, fuzzy white cotton ball. The brightness decreases gradually out in all directions from a bright white point of light at the center. A wavy blue-white jet of material extends from the point-like core outward to the upper right, about halfway across the galaxy. Stars speckle the background.

M87

A Hubble Space Telescope image of the giant galaxy M87 shows a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma blasting from the galaxy's 6.5-billion-solar-mass central black hole. The blowtorch-like jet seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory. These novae are not caught inside...

This video plots the location of Hubble Space Telescope observations of novae – exploding stars – in the giant elliptical galaxy M87 that appears as a white spherical blob on the black background of space. The galaxy’s most notable feature is a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma ejected from a supermassive central black hole. The jet is a blue streak extending diagonally from the galaxy to upper right of the frame.

Enhanced Nova Rate Near the Jet of M87

This video plots the location of Hubble Space Telescope observations of novae – exploding stars – in the giant elliptical galaxy M87. The galaxy’s most notable feature is a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma ejected from a supermassive central black hole. Hubble observations...

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 06, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Science Credit

NASA, ESA, Alec Lessing (Stanford University), Edward Baltz (Stanford University), Michael Shara (AMNH)

Image Processing Credit

Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

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