Messier 87 — LLMpedia

Messier 87
source
Name	Messier 87
Other names	M87, NGC 4486, Virgo A
Type	Elliptical galaxy (E0–E1)
Constellation	Virgo
Epoch	J2000
Redshift	0.00436
Apparent magnitude	8.6
Size	7.2′ × 6.8′
Notes	Prominent relativistic jet, central supermassive black hole imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope

Contents

Messier 87 is a giant elliptical galaxy in the Virgo Cluster notable for its prominent relativistic jet, enormous mass, and central supermassive black hole imaged by very long baseline interferometry. The galaxy has played a central role in studies by observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration. It serves as a key object in research involving James Webb Space Telescope, Very Large Telescope, and multiwavelength campaigns including Very Long Baseline Array observations.

Overview

Messier 87 resides within the Virgo Cluster and is cataloged as NGC 4486 and known colloquially as Virgo A; it was included in the Messier catalogue. The galaxy is a focus for instrumentation projects like the Event Horizon Telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, and the Keck Observatory, and features in theoretical work by groups at institutions including the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the European Southern Observatory. Major surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Two Micron All-Sky Survey, and the GALEX mission have contributed photometric and spectroscopic data. M87 has been central to conferences like the American Astronomical Society meetings and cited in award contexts such as the Breakthrough Prize and investigations by teams at MIT, Caltech, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

The galaxy is classified as an E0–E1 giant elliptical in morphological systems influenced by studies from the Hubble sequence tradition and is a dominant member of the Virgo Supercluster structures mapped by Vera C. Rubin Observatory precursor surveys. Stellar populations and globular cluster systems have been studied by teams at the Carnegie Institution for Science, European Space Agency, and Institute for Advanced Study using instruments like the Subaru Telescope and the Gemini Observatory. Its globular cluster population links to work on chemical enrichment by researchers at Princeton University, University of Cambridge, and California Institute of Technology. Hot X-ray–emitting gas throughout the halo has been observed by Chandra X-ray Observatory and interpreted in models from the Harvard College Observatory and Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics.

The active galactic nucleus powered by a central supermassive black hole was imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration, involving teams from University of Arizona, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, and Radboud University Nijmegen. The relativistic jet, first noted in optical photographs from the Mount Wilson Observatory, has been observed across radio, optical, and X-ray bands by facilities including the Very Large Array, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Studies by theorists at Cambridge University, Stanford University, and the University of Tokyo explore jet launching mechanisms tied to the Blandford–Znajek process and magnetohydrodynamic simulations run on systems at National Center for Supercomputing Applications and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Observations of superluminal motion and knot structures relate to work by teams at NRAO, JAXA, and European VLBI Network.

As a central galaxy within the Virgo Cluster, Messier 87 interacts gravitationally with cluster members cataloged in surveys such as the Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies and studied in dynamical contexts by groups at University of California, Berkeley, Imperial College London, and University of Toronto. Intracluster medium properties connect to observations by ROSAT, XMM-Newton, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and to theoretical modeling from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and Kavli Institute for Cosmology. Tidal features, satellite galaxies, and stellar streams have been analyzed using data from Pan-STARRS, CFHT surveys, and research groups at ETH Zurich and University of Michigan.

The object was cataloged in the Messier catalogue compiled by Charles Messier in the 18th century and later recorded in the New General Catalogue by John Dreyer. Early observational work was performed at observatories including Paris Observatory and Royal Observatory, Greenwich while photographic investigations advanced at Lick Observatory and Mount Wilson Observatory. Radio identification as Virgo A arose from surveys by Jansky-related radio astronomy lineage and major radio campaigns at NRAO and Cavendish Laboratory. High-resolution imaging with Hubble Space Telescope in the 1990s and interferometric imaging with Event Horizon Telescope in the 2010s marked milestones recognized in publications by teams at Nature (journal), Science (journal), and conference proceedings of the International Astronomical Union.

Distance estimates to the galaxy have relied on methods including surface brightness fluctuations and globular cluster luminosity functions employed by groups at Carnegie Institution for Science and Johns Hopkins University, and on redshift-independent measurements adopted by the Cosmicflows project. Dynamical mass determinations, using stellar kinematics and gas dynamics, were conducted by researchers at University of California, Santa Cruz, University of Oxford, and Yale University and informed by adaptive optics observations from Keck Observatory and Very Large Telescope. The mass of the central black hole was constrained by stellar orbital studies, molecular gas dynamics, and very long baseline interferometry teams spanning institutions such as Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, University of Maryland, and Princeton University.

Category:Elliptical galaxies