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M87
Messier 87
Elliptical Galaxy
Right Ascension | 12h 30m 49s | Best Seen | 4/1-8/1 |
Declination | 12° 23' 28" | Magnitude | 8.6 |
Constellation | Virgo | ||
Actual |
Compared to Milky Way |
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Distance | ~ 60 million ly | -- |
Actual Brightness | -- | -- |
Diameter | 120 thousand ly | 1.2 |
Mass | ~3 trillion suns | -- |
Galactic Type | E1 | -- |
What To Look For Through The Telescope
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Recommended eyepiece: 40mm or 80 mm.
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When people look through the telescope they should see a fuzzy patch of light. This is the galaxy. If they are having trouble seeing it, have them look at a star near the edge of the field, then look back to the center out of the corner of their eye.
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The view through the telescope will not look like photographs they may have seen. A photograph of a galaxy may have an exposure of many hours. This long exposure brings out the galaxy’s details. Our eyes allow light to collect for only about 1/30 of a second before they refresh themselves and start over again.
M87 Information
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This is a giant elliptical galaxy, and looks nearly spherical.
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With long exposure photographs, M87 is seen to extend out even further:
its diameter could be more than half a million light years2.
Plus, with long exposures, M87 is somewhat elongated, no longer spherical. -
A giant jet extends from M87 about 5,000 to 8,000 light years3.
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A supermassive black hole4, with a mass of 3 billion suns, is at the center of M87.
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M87 has perhaps as many as 15,000 globular clusters5. The Milky Way has about 150.
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This galaxy is the 5th strongest source of radio emission in the sky6. (Called Virgo A or 3C 274).
Home > Galaxies > Elliptical > M87 > References | top |
References
Item | Updated | Notes |
Coordinates | 2002-08-14 | just “tweaked” a bit |
Magnitude | 2002-08-14 | http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m087.html |
Distance | 2002-08-14> | http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m087.html |
Actual Brightness | -- | |
Diameter | -- | |
Mass | 2002-08-14 | http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m087.html |
Galactic Type | -- | |
Other | 2002-08-14 | 2, 3, 5: http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m087.html 3: GREAT PIC at http://www.seds.org/messier/more/m087_jet.html 4: GREAT PIC at http://hubblesite.org/discoveries/10th/photos/slide32.shtml 5: previous: "about 7,500 globular clusters" – BUT the same seds site as above says modern estimates are around 15,000 6: left alone, no changes (but couldn’t find info to support 5th brightest radio source) |