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.

                                 2023 May 4
    [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 in 2017 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 [11]supermassive black hole surrounded by infalling
   material is the source of enormous energy driving [12]the relativistic
   jets from the center of active galaxy M87. The Event Horizon Telescope
   image of M87 has now been enhanced to reveal a [13]sharper view of the
   famous supermassive black hole.

                        At NASA: [14]Black Hole Week
                        Tomorrow's picture: ShadowCam
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [26]Robert Nemiroff ([27]MTU) & [28]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([29]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [30]Specific rights apply.
              [31]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [32]ASD at [33]NASA / [34]GSFC,
                         [35]NASA Science Activation
                           & [36]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2305/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/feature/goddard/2023/nasa-animation-sizes-up-the-universe-s-biggest-black-holes
  12. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/telescopes-unite-in-unprecedented-observations-of-famous-black-hole.html
  13. https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2310/
  14. https://universe.nasa.gov/black-hole-week/participate/the-big-event/
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230503.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  19. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  24. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230504
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230505.html
  26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  27. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  28. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  29. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  32. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/
  34. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  35. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  36. http://www.mtu.edu/