M87 & the Virgo Cluster – A Wide-Field View
Key Scientific Data
Object type: Giant elliptical galaxy – E0/E1
Constellation: Virgo
Other designations: M87, NGC 4486, Virgo A, 3C 274
Distance from Earth: approximately 54 million light-years
Diameter: approximately 120,000 light-years (bright stellar body)
Apparent size: approximately 7.2 × 6.8 arcminutes
Apparent magnitude: approximately 8.6
Central black hole: M87* – approximately 6.5 billion solar masses
Notable feature: relativistic jet extending thousands of light-years
Galaxy cluster: Virgo Cluster – more than 1,000 known member galaxies
Other notable feature: Markarian’s Chain
Right Ascension: 12h 30m 49s
Declination: +12° 23′ 28″
Discovered by: Charles Messier, 1781
Light-travel time: approximately 54 million years
Description
This wide-field image captures part of the Virgo Cluster, the nearest major galaxy cluster to the Milky Way, located approximately 50–60 million light-years from Earth.
Near the centre lies Messier 87 (M87), a giant elliptical galaxy surrounded by numerous spiral, elliptical and lenticular systems.
The wide field also includes Markarian’s Chain, a distinctive arrangement of galaxies, together with many smaller background systems at considerably greater distances.
M87 – A Giant Elliptical Galaxy
Unlike spiral galaxies, M87 has no prominent spiral arms or flattened stellar disc. Its light is distributed in a smooth, nearly spherical structure dominated by older stars.
It is one of the most massive galaxies in the Virgo Cluster and possesses an extraordinary population of thousands of globular clusters, compared with approximately 150–200 known in the Milky Way.
At its centre lies one of the most extensively studied supermassive black holes in astronomy.
The First Black Hole Ever Imaged
In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) released the first image of a black hole's shadow, revealing the immediate surroundings of M87*.
With a mass approximately 6.5 billion times that of the Sun, M87* is more than a thousand times as massive as Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the centre of our Milky Way.
The image revealed a bright ring of radio emission surrounding a dark central region, produced by the interaction of intense gravity with radiation from hot plasma.
The observation was achieved by combining radio telescopes across the planet into an Earth-sized virtual telescope.
A Relativistic Jet
M87 also contains a powerful relativistic jet, produced by processes involving the central black hole, its accretion flow and strong magnetic fields.
The jet carries energetic particles outward at speeds approaching that of light, extending thousands of light-years beyond the galactic centre.
First observed by Heber Curtis in 1918, it remains an important subject of research into black hole activity and the behaviour of matter under extreme gravitational conditions.
The Virgo Cluster
The Virgo Cluster contains more than 1,000 known galaxies, including massive ellipticals, spirals, lenticular systems and numerous dwarf galaxies.
Its members are gravitationally associated within a structure extending across several million light-years.
M87 dominates one of the cluster's principal subgroups, while other concentrations surround galaxies such as M49 and M86.
The cluster provides astronomers with an important environment for studying galactic interactions, mergers and the influence of gravity on galaxy evolution.
Markarian’s Chain
Markarian’s Chain is a curved arrangement of galaxies within the Virgo Cluster, including M84, M86, NGC 4435 and NGC 4438.
Named after Armenian astrophysicist Benjamin Markarian, who studied their shared motion, the chain combines galaxies with different morphologies and evolutionary histories.
Some members are gravitationally associated, while others contribute to the apparent alignment from Earth's perspective.
The interacting pair NGC 4435 and NGC 4438, commonly known as The Eyes, is among its most recognizable features.
A Window into the Cosmic Web
The numerous galaxies visible across this field illustrate the tendency of matter to concentrate into gravitational structures.
Galaxy groups and clusters form part of the cosmic web, an immense network of filaments and sheets separated by vast regions of relatively empty space.
The Virgo Cluster represents one nearby concentration within this structure.
Foreground stars belong to our own Milky Way, while the smallest background galaxies may lie hundreds of millions of light-years beyond the cluster.
Looking Back in Time
The light captured from M87 began its journey approximately 54 million years ago, during Earth's Eocene epoch.
At that time, Earth was considerably warmer than today, tropical forests extended into high latitudes, and early ancestors of horses, whales and primates were evolving.
The non-avian dinosaurs had disappeared approximately 12 million years earlier.
Humans did not yet exist. The earliest hominins would emerge more than 45 million years later, while Homo sapienswould appear only around 300,000 years ago.
Throughout this immense period of terrestrial evolution, the photons recorded in this photograph were travelling across intergalactic space towards Earth.
More distant background galaxies reveal earlier epochs, allowing this single image to capture different periods of cosmic history within the same field of view.
Image Data
Total integration time: 5h 24m
Integration by filter:
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L-Pro: 1h 54m (38 × 180")
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Red: 1h 36m (32 × 180")
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Green: 1h (20 × 180")
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Blue: 54m (18 × 180")
Equipment:
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Telescope: William Optics RedCat / Cat 51 III WIFD
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Camera: ToupTek ATR2600M
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Mount: 10Micron GM2000 HPS II
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Filters: Optolong L-Pro 2", Optolong RGB 2"
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Accessories: ToupTek AAF Electric Focuser, WandererAstro WandererCover V4-EC
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Software: Adobe Photoshop, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight, Stefan Berg Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A. / NINA)
For further details and the full-resolution image, visit AstroBin: