NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 4 May 2023: Supermassive Black Hole in Messier 87 Galaxy

Today’s NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a snapshot of the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87.

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: May 04 2023, 11:24 IST
Best NASA Astronomy Pictures of the Week: Geomagnetic storms, Tarantula Nebula and more
Messier 87 supermassive black hole
1/5 The Medulla Nebula Supernova Remnant (April 24) - It is CTB-1, also known as the Medulla Nebula Supernova Remnant. It is a rare cosmic bubble and the remnant of an ancient supernova explosion that occurred about 10000 years ago, according to NASA. The Medulla Nebula Supernova Remnant is given the name because of its brain-like shape and is located towards the constellation of Cassiopeia. (NASA/Kimberly Sibbald)
Messier 87 supermassive black hole
2/5 Geomagnetic Storm sparks Auroras (April 25) - Stunning auroras sparked by the G4-class geomagnetic storm were captured from Caceres, Spain. But it wasn’t just Spain where the auroras were visible. According to a report by spaceweather.com, the stunning streaks of light were seen lighting up the sky in Europe, in several parts of the U.S., New Zealand and as far as south of France.  (NASA/Landon Moeller)
Messier 87 supermassive black hole
3/5 Full Moon shot through Arc de Triomphe (April 26) - This captured image is a fascinating snapshot of the full Moon through the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. The amount of Moon we see changes over the month, which is known as the lunar phases, and there are 8 in total - New Moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full Moon, waning gibbous, third quarter and waning crescent Moon. (Stefano Zanarello/NASA)
Messier 87 supermassive black hole
4/5 The fascinating Tarantula Nebula (April 27) - is the 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula, located about 160,000 light-years away towards the constellation of Dorado. The 30 Doradus is also called the Tarantula Nebula because of its glowing filaments which resemble spider legs, according to NASA. The Nebula is special as it can be seen in the Southern sky with the naked eye. It resembles a large milky patch of stars when viewed from Earth. (NASA/SuperBIT)
Messier 87 supermassive black hole
5/5 Runaway star Alpha Camelopardalis (April 28) - It is a snapshot of Alpha Camelopardalis, a runaway star located about 4,000 light-years away in the long-necked constellation Camelopardalis. According to NASA, this star is moving through space at a rapid speed of about 60 kilometers per second. In fact, this star is about 25-30 times the size of our Sun and over 500,000 times brighter! NASA has also revealed that Alpha Camelopardalis is 5 times hotter than our Sun, with a temperature of about 30,000 Kelvin. (NASA/Andre Vilhena)
Messier 87 supermassive black hole
icon View all Images
The supermassive black hole is located at the center of Messier 87, about 55 million light-years away. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Event Horizon Telescope)

The Event Horizon Telescope, which included a collaboration of 8 telescopes around the world in 2017, captured the first ever image of a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy known as Messier 87. The supermassive black hole is engulfing huge amounts of gas, and that material forms what scientists call an accretion disk. The gas in the disk can heat up to millions of degrees Fahrenheit due to the gas being so dense.

Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a snapshot of the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87. Messier 87 is a supergiant elliptical galaxy located about 55 million light-years away towards the constellation of Virgo. Alongside the black hole, relativistic jet blasting from the galaxy's central region can be observed. This is due to ionized matter within the jet moving at the speed of light. According to NASA, there are also powerful magnets entwined within the disk which collect all the material engulfed by the black hole and funnel it away in the form of a jet. If it is looked at at an angle, it is called a Quasar, but if looked at in a top-down way, it is called a Blazar.

The picture was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope which is operated by NASA and JPL-Caltech.

Also read
Looking for a smartphone? To check mobile finder click here.

NASA's description of the picture

Bright elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (M87) is home to the supermassive black hole captured in 2017 by planet Earth's 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 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. 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 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 the relativistic jets from the center of active galaxy M87. The Event Horizon Telescope image of M87 has now been enhanced to reveal a sharper view of the famous supermassive black hole.

Catch all the Latest Tech News, Mobile News, Laptop News, Gaming news, Wearables News , How To News, also keep up with us on Whatsapp channel,Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

First Published Date: 04 May, 11:23 IST
Tags:
NEXT ARTICLE BEGINS