| M87 (NGC4486) / Galaxy, type E+0-1 |
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| R.A. | 12h 30m 49.7s (2000.0) |
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| Dec. | +12° 23' 24" (2000.0) |
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| Apparent Size | 8.3×6.6' |
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| Radial Velocity | +1601km/s |
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| Magnitude | 9.6 |
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| Distance | 51 million light yrs. |
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| Group of Galaxies | Virgo Cluster |
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| Other IDs | UGC7654, MCG2-32-105
PGC41361 |
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M87 is a big elliptical galaxy positioned at the center of Virgo Cluster.
You can find it around midway of Denebola, beta Leonis and epsilon Virginis.
Only small scopes show you a round and dimmed light clearly. M87 has a real diameter of about 130 thousand light years, a bit larger than our Galaxy.
M87 is well known as a strong radio source of "Virgo A".
An reversed inset shows the M87 image by magnifying 6.5 times. As indicated with an arrow, you can see a huge jet structure stretching toward WNW direction.
It is considered that a gigantic black hole in center of M87 is supplying the energy of its activity and formed the jet structure.
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