On April 10th, the first image of a Black Hole was released by scientists to the media.

Eight radio telescopes located all over the globe worked together to compile the image pictured here.

 

The black hole is a massive one centered in the huge elliptical galaxy in Virgo.

A gas “jet” emerging out from the central black hole has been observed for many years and is also a clue to the source.

 

I took the photo of the large swath of the sky last year (2018) containing a cluster of galaxies called “Markanian’s Chain”.

The brightest galaxy in the group is M-87. I used my 4 inch Explore Scientific Triplet Refractor, f/7 and with a FL of 714mm.

The exposure was 90 seconds at ISO 2000 with a Sony A7 Mirrorless Digital Camera shot at Borrego Springs last May.

 

This May, we will return to the desert and concentrate on M-87 with more exposure times to pick up the “jet” to show it more prominently.

 

M-87 is an easy galaxy to acquire (if you have a light polluted-less sky). It is large and bright at 9th magnitude.

The location is R.A. 12h 31m, Dec +12.4 degrees.  Distance is 55 million light years.