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M87  from BMV Observatories
Blue Mountain Vista Observatory New RInggold PA
M87
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Messier 87, (M87 or NGC 4486) is a magnitude 8.6 elliptical galaxy in Virgo. It has an apparent size of 8.3 x 6.6 arc minutes and is estimated to be 53.5 million light years away. It is a supergiant galaxy and is thought to have a supermassive black hole at its center. The galaxy is famous for a linear structure called the 'jet' which is thought to be caused by interaction of matter with the black hole. In my image above, the jet can be seen as a small line right near the bright galaxy core at the 3 oclock position. Click on the image above for the full resolution image.


Imaging data:
Date: April 13,25 2009
Location: New Ringgold PA
Optics: Meade LX200R-14 at f/7.9 28ll mm
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera/Filters: Apogee Alta U8300 FLI CFW-2-7 FLI Filters
Guiding: guidescope
Exposure: Luminance: 20 x 5minutes unbinned for a total of 1.6 hours
Processing: Image acquisition using CCD Autopilot. Initial processing was done using Maxim DL with subsequent processing using Photoshop.