M87 M87 Jet 3C 274, Virgo A

   Tweet

Curdridge Observatory, Southampton,UK
Object name: M87 M87 Jet 3C 274, Virgo A
Apparent RA: 12 30 49.4  Apparent Dec:+12 23 26
Constellation: Virgo

---

Thought I'd have another bash at the M87 jet. M87 ( NGC 4486) is the supergiant elliptical galaxy in the Virgo galaxy cluster. A good 50 million light years away. If you look carefully at the core of M87 you can observe the relativistic jet extending about 6.5 light years from the core. This jet is generated by the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy.

Colour filters have been used to highlight the difference between the yellow older population stars in the galaxy and the bluer colour of the jet. The image has been processed to show the jet - processed differently M87 would fill this little frame.

The image scale here is about 0.6 arc seconds per pixel.

Previous effort from 2006

View full sized image of M87 M87 Jet 3C 274, Virgo A

cCaptured in Maxim and processed in Photoshop

This image was autoguided using my homemade off axis guider with Lodestar.

Imaged with my homemade telescope mount

---

Exposure Details :

Coma Corrector Baader L 50x120s on 200 @ F5 f.l. 1000 with Artemis 285 camera
Coma Corrector Baader Red 15x120s on 200 @ F5 f.l. 1000 with Artemis 285 camera
Coma Corrector Baader Blue 15x120s on 200 @ F5 f.l. 1000 with Artemis 285 camera
Coma Corrector Baader Green 15x120s on 200 @ F5 f.l. 1000 with Artemis 285 camera

Equipment:

Skywatcher 200 Newt (upgraded with OO Hilux secondary)
Baader Focuser
Homemade focus motor
Homemade filterwheel / OAG combo with Lodestar guide camera
Artemis 285 CCD camera
Homemade Telescope mount

Curdridge Observatory, Southampton,UK