Object for this post was chosen by , he also encouraged me to start this series of posts while talking about all the beautiful things in the space and his photo of total eclipse of the Sun. Thank you Jason! I hope you will enjoy this one. :)
On this photo we can see a supergiant elliptical galaxy Virgo A, it is also known as M87 and NGC 4486. This monstrous galaxy is located 54 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo and has diameter of 120000 light-years. It contains very large number of globular clusters, about 15000, compared to the 150-200 orbiting the Milky Way. As a true elliptical galaxy, M87 has almost no evidence of star formation, and it is likely formed from a recent merger between two other spiral galaxies.
The most fascinating thing in this galaxy is the jet, which we are able to see in visible wavelengths, but also in X-ray and radio domain. This jet originates at the core of the galaxay, from the central supermassive black hole and extends outward to about 5000 light years. As material from the center of the galaxy accretes (in other words - fall) onto the black hole, the energy released produces a stream of subatomic particles that are accelerated to velocities near the speed of light.
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Cheers!