M87 is a monster galaxy, the nearest giant elliptical to the Milky Way and also the nearest "active galaxy": a galaxy whose nucleus appears to be superbright, emitting vast amounts of matter and radiation. These AGs baffled astronomers for a long time, but now we understand the general scenario that leads to these galaxies having active nuclei. Every major galaxy has a supermassive black hole in its core, and as matter falls in it forms a flattened disk, called the accretion disk. The inner part of the disk is incredibly hot, and a witch's brew of forces operates there. They combine to focus a titanic jet of matter and energy that screams out from the vicinity of the black hole. M87 has a jet. A big one!
This newly released image was taken in the radio part of the spectrum using a technique called interferometry, where the abilities of widely-separated ...
