Messier 87🌌

Messier 87 is a colossal elliptical galaxy located in the Virgo Cluster, approximately 53 million light-years away. It is one of the most massive galaxies in the local universe, containing several trillion stars, hot intergalactic gas, and one of the most powerful central black holes ever observed.

Unlike spiral galaxies, which have defined arms and organized disks, M87 has a smooth, rounded shape with a bright center that gradually fades outward. This structure indicates an old stellar population and a history filled with galaxy mergers. Many astronomers believe M87 grew to its enormous size by absorbing dozens of smaller galaxies over billions of years.

The most famous feature of M87 is its supermassive black hole, which is around 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun. This black hole became world-famous in 2019 when the Event Horizon Telescope captured the first-ever image of a black hole’s shadow, revealing a glowing ring of gas spiraling around the event horizon.

M87 also produces a powerful, high-speed jet of particles that extends thousands of light-years into space. This jet is launched from the black hole’s surroundings and glows brightly in radio and optical wavelengths. The scale and intensity of the jet make M87 one of the most studied galaxies in the universe.

Surrounding the galaxy is an enormous swarm of globular clusters, with estimates of over 12,000—far more than the Milky Way’s few hundred. This tremendous population highlights the galaxy’s massive size and complex formation history.