M84 with Spectrograph

The Hubble image on the left shows the bright core of M84 surrounded by a dark band of gas and dust. The plot on the right was generated by passing light from the core of the galaxy (bordered by the blue rectangle in the left image) through a Hubble spectrograph. Stars and glowing gases near the core of M84 are circling the galaxy’s central black hole at 880,000 miles per hour, so they appear to be moving rapidly toward Earth on the left half of the spectrum (colored blue) and receding on the right half (colored red). For more information about Hubble’s observations of M84, see: hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/1997/news-1997-12.html www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1522a/