NRAO: National Radio Astronomy Observatory

About this Image

The Inner Jet of the Radio Galaxy M87 located in the Virgo cluster at a distance of only 16 Megaparsec (52 million light years). The angular resolution of this false-color radio image made by the NRAO Very Long Baseline Array at 2 cm is fifty times better than the one of the Hubble Space Telescope. The linear resolution is about three light months. The image shows a limb brightened jet and a faint counter-jet. The central gap is consistent with the presence of a fast inner jet which is beamed away from the observer surrounded by a slower moving outer plasma seen by the VLBA.

Investigator(s):  Y. Y. Kovalev (MPIfR & ASC Lebedev), M. L. Lister (Purdue U.), D. C. Homan (Denison U.), K. I. Kellermann (NRAO)

Alternate Resolutions

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This image is available in the following downloadable versions:

• 600 x 413 color JPEG
• 1200 x 825 color JPEG
• 3000 x 2062 color TIFF

If you would like to obtain a higher resolution version of this image, please contact Pat Smiley.

For More Information

• Read the Journal article
• Up one level for more info on Radio_Galaxies
• For unfamiliar terms, visit the NRAO Radio Astronomy Glossary

Technical Data

Telescope	VLBA
Date of Observation	2000-05-08
Type of Observation	Continuum Observations
Center of Image	RA: 12:30:49.40, Dec: 12:23:28.00 (J2000)
Field of View	0.0000 x 0.0000 degrees
Technical Caption	This 2 cm logarithmic false-color image was obtained from a full track in hour angle using the VLBA along with one VLA antenna on 2000 May 8 at 256 Mbps. The FWHM of the beam is of 0.6 by 1.3 mas at P.A.=-11 degrees (natural weighting). The peak intensity is 1.00 Jy/beam and the off-source rms noise 64 micro-Jy/beam. The corresponding dynamic range is better than 15,000 to 1.



Astronomical database entries for M87
• Query NED for images of M87
• Query SIMBAD for more M87 data

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