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M87 Core: Spooktacular M87
Is it a spooky jack-o-lantern, a ghost, or some other sort of specter? Turns out it's nothing scary at all - unless you are afraid of black
holes possibly crashing into each other. This is, in fact, an image of
the core of M87, a galaxy in the constellation of Virgo. Scientists
have specially processed Chandra's X-ray data to reveal the presence of
what they believe to be three rings associated with the galaxy's core
and jet. If these rings are real, then scientists will need to come up
with more than a ghost story to explain them. One possible explanation
for the triple-ring structure is the merger of two spinning,
supermassive black holes.
| Fast Facts for M87 Core:
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Credit
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NASA/CXC/H.Feng et al. |
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Scale
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About 2 arcmin per side |
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Category
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Quasars & Active Galaxies
Groups & Clusters of Galaxies |
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Coordinates
(J2000)
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RA 12h 30m 49.40s | Dec +12º
23' 28.00" |
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Constellation
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Virgo |
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Observation
Dates
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July 29, 2000 & July 06,
2002 |
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Observation
Time
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33 Hours |
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Obs.
ID
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352, 2707 |
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Color
Code
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Intensity |
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Instrument
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ACIS
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Distance Estimate
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About 50 million light years |
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Reference
|
H. Feng et al. 2004, Astrophys. J. 607:L95-L98 |
| Release
Date |
October 29, 2004 |
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