Observation by Mike Foylan: Messier 87 and "the jet"

Uploaded by

Paul Downing

Observer

Mike Foylan

Observed

2016 Feb 15 - 20:45

Uploaded

2019 May 04 - 08:53

Objects

M87

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Constellation

Virgo

Field centre

RA: 12^h30^m
Dec: +12°23'
Position angle: +84°21'

Field size

0°46' × 0°37'

Equipment

Celestron 0.2-m SCT
SBIG STL-1301E CCD Camera

Exposure

3 x 90 second sub frames

Location

Cherryvalley Observatory (I83) Ireland

Target name

Messier 87

Title

Messier 87 and "the jet"

About this image

Mike reports that with the recent news about the amazing image and subsequent science data from the super massive black hole in M87 galaxy taken with the Event Horizon Telescope he remembered imaging M87 in the past and so looked back in his records (as did your gallery editor!).

Like me, Mike was impressed by what can be achieved using a relatively small telescope from your back garden!

He took three 90 second images with no filter and calibrated them (light plus dark frames). The three images were then combined in CCDSoft and a DDP filter applied.

One can see the forward facing relativistic jet which extends some 5,000 light years. The M87 galaxy is truly enormous and dwarfs our Milky Way galaxy. It is classed as a supergiant elliptical galaxy located from our vantage point in the constellation of Virgo some 55 million light years distant.

Files associated with this observation

wk19_19_M87_foylan.png (1.6 MB)

Like this image

Graham Roberts, Jeremy Shears, Dr Paul Leyland, Graham Winstanley, Andy Wilson, Michael O'Connell, Derek Robson

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