Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2021 April 15
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                The Galaxy, the Jet, and a Famous Black Hole
      Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]JPL-Caltech, [5]Event Horizon Telescope
                                Collaboration

   Explanation: [6]Bright elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (M87) is home to
   the supermassive black hole captured by planet Earth's [7]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 [8]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. [9]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 [10]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 [11]the relativistic jets from the center of
   active galaxy M87.

                  Tomorrow's picture: pixels on the horizon
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    Authors & editors: [23]Robert Nemiroff ([24]MTU) & [25]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([26]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [27]Specific rights apply.
              [28]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [29]ASD at [30]NASA / [31]GSFC
                           & [32]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2104/pia23122c-16.jpg
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/
   5. https://eventhorizontelescope.org/organization
   6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100520.html
   7. https://eventhorizontelescope.org/blog
   8. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA23122
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap041211.html
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190411.html
  11. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/telescopes-unite-in-unprecedented-observations-of-famous-black-hole.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210414.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  16. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  21. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210415
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210416.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  26. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  28. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  29. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  32. http://www.mtu.edu/