images

Jet in the elliptical galaxy M87

by

ESO/Novapix

Reference

a-gax44-86002

Date

2006-09-11

As a typical elliptical galaxy, M87 primarily contains old, fairly cold stars - they cause the reddish colour of the galaxy in this colour image. Its powerful jet, however, is extremely energetic and emits much of its energy in the blue and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum. The jet, therefore, appears bright blue in comparison. M87 is located at about 60 million light-years from the Earth in the Virgo galaxy cluster. This image is a colour composite of three images taken by the VLT in ultraviolet, blue, and visible light during the night of May 25 - 26, 1998.