M87 (Messier 87)
Position on the route: 181/181 · level needed 5200 · journey (Mk0 engine) 683.1 h
By the numbers
| Distance | ≈ 53.5 million light-years |
|---|---|
| Black hole | ≈ 6.5 billion Suns |
| Jet | ≈ 5,000 light-years |
| EHT | 10 April 2019 |
The story
M87 is the giant elliptical galaxy at the heart of the Virgo Cluster, about 53.5 million light-years away; with trillions of solar masses and thousands of globular clusters, one of the largest galaxies of the local universe. At its centre sits a supermassive black hole of about 6.5 billion solar masses.
On 10 April 2019 the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) team published the first image of a black hole’s shadow: a bright ring of light around a dark patch. The ring’s size matches Einstein’s prediction from general relativity. A jet shoots out of the centre for about 5,000 light-years; Heber Curtis noted ‘a curious straight ray’ in 1918.
Missions
- Event Horizon Telescope (2017 observation, 2019 image)
- Hubble, Chandra: jet observations
Colony note
No surface; a very distant, heavily shielded station.
☠ A supermassive black hole of billions of solar masses and a 5,000-light-year jet: no surface. Only a very distant, heavily shielded station.
What probes bring back
- About 53.5 million light-years away: the giant elliptical of the Virgo Cluster. On 10 April 2019 the Event Horizon Telescope published the first image of a black hole’s shadow, at its centre. Its mass is about 6.5 billion Suns.
- A jet some 5,000 light-years long shoots out of the centre (Heber Curtis noted ‘a curious straight ray’ in 1918). The image showed a ring of light consistent with general relativity’s prediction.