Messier 87

E457106

Messier 87 is a giant elliptical galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, notable for its supermassive black hole and powerful relativistic jet.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form Occurrences
M87* 0
M87 3

Statements (52)

Predicate Object
instanceOf active galaxy
cD galaxy
elliptical galaxy
giant elliptical galaxy
lenticular-like galaxy
radio galaxy
supermassive black hole
alsoKnownAs 3C 274 NERFINISHED
M87 NERFINISHED
NGC 4486 NERFINISHED
Virgo A NERFINISHED
apparentMagnitudeV ~8.6
catalog Messier catalogue NERFINISHED
New General Catalogue NERFINISHED
Third Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources NERFINISHED
declination +12° 23′ 28″
discoveredBy Charles Messier NERFINISHED
discoveryYear 1781
distanceFromEarth about 16.5 megaparsecs
about 53 million light-years
dominatesGravitationalPotentialOf central Virgo Cluster region
firstImageYear 2019
globularClusterCount several thousand
hasDarkMatterHalo true
hasFeature X-ray emitting hot gas halo
bright active galactic nucleus
extended stellar halo
large population of globular clusters
hasJet relativistic jet
hasSupermassiveBlackHole M87* NERFINISHED
imagedBy Event Horizon Telescope NERFINISHED
isCentralGalaxyOf Virgo A subcluster NERFINISHED
jetDiscoveredBy Heber Curtis NERFINISHED
jetDiscoveryYear 1918
jetLength about 5,000 light-years (optical)
tens of thousands of light-years (radio)
locatedIn Messier 87 NERFINISHED
locatedInConstellation Virgo NERFINISHED
mass about 6.5 billion solar masses
memberOf Virgo Cluster NERFINISHED
morphologicalType E0–E1
observedBy Chandra X-ray Observatory NERFINISHED
Hubble Space Telescope NERFINISHED
Very Large Array NERFINISHED
radialVelocity ~1300 km/s
radioLoud true
radioSourceDesignation 3C 274 NERFINISHED
Virgo A NERFINISHED
redshift ~0.00428
rightAscension 12h 30m 49.4s
stellarMass hundreds of billions of solar masses
XrayEmissionSource intra-cluster medium

Referenced by (6)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Charles Messier cataloged Messier 87
Messier catalogue contains Messier 87
Virgo Supercluster contains Messier 87
this entity surface form: M87
Virgo Cluster dominantGalaxy Messier 87
this entity surface form: M87
Virgo Cluster dominantGalaxy Messier 87
Virgo Cluster hasCentralSupermassiveBlackHoleIn Messier 87
this entity surface form: M87