Galactic jet. Combined optical and infrared image of the giant elliptical galaxy M87,or NGC 4486. M87 has a prominent jet (blue) streaming from its core (yellow). The jet is made of electrons and other particles accelerated from around a supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy. The light we see comes from electrons spiralling around magnetic field lines in the jet,a process called synchrotron radiation. M87 is about 50 million light years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. This image was made with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on the Hubble Space Telescope | |
Licence : | Droits gérés |
Crédit: | Science Photo Library / HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM / STSCI / ESA / NASA |
Taille de l’image : | 1222 px × 1276 px |
Model Release : | Non requis |
Property Release : | Non requis |
Restrictions : | - |