星系、喷流与著名的黑洞

2024年5月9日

The Galaxy, the Jet, and a Famous Black Hole
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

Explanation: Bright elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (M87) is home to the supermassive black hole captured in 2017 by planet Earth’s Event Horizon Telescope in the first ever image of a black hole. Giant of the Virgo galaxy cluster about 55 million light-years away, M87 is rendered in blue hues in this infrared image from the Spitzer Space telescope. Though M87 appears mostly featureless and cloud-like, the Spitzer image does record details of relativistic jets blasting from the galaxy’s central region. Shown in the inset at top right, the jets themselves span thousands of light-years. The brighter jet seen on the right is approaching and close to our line of sight. Opposite, the shock created by the otherwise unseen receding jet lights up a fainter arc of material. Inset at bottom right, the historic black hole image is shown in context at the center of giant galaxy, between the relativistic jets. Completely unresolved in the Spitzer image, the supermassive black hole surrounded by infalling material is the source of enormous energy driving the relativistic jets from the center of active galaxy M87. The Event Horizon Telescope image of M87 has been enhanced to reveal a sharper view of the famous supermassive black hole.

It’s inescapable: Black Hole Week at NASA!

Tomorrow’s picture: pixels in spacetime

星系、喷流与著名的黑洞
影像提供: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

说明: 明亮椭圆星系梅西耶87（M87）核心的超大质量黑洞，是地球上的事件视界望远镜，在2017年拍摄的史上首张黑洞影像的主角。约5500万光年远的M87，是室女星系团的庞大成员星系，而在来自斯皮策太空望远镜的红外光底图里，M87是其中以泛蓝色阶呈现的大星系。虽然M87看起来像一团平淡无奇的云状天体，但斯皮策的影像，却能清楚的记录下从此星系核心射出的相对论性喷流之细微结构。右上角的嵌图中显示，这些喷流本身长达数千光年。嵌图右方较明亮的喷流往我们靠，而且其指向离我们的视线不远。与其反向的不可见远离喷流，冲撞并激发辐射出暗淡辉光的物质弧。右下角的嵌图，则是上文所提到的、位于庞大星系及相对性喷流中心的黑洞之历史性影像。斯皮策的影像里完全未能解析的，是被超大质量黑洞吸积在周围的内坠物质环，而它们更是驱动源自活跃星系M87核心的相对论喷流之庞大能量源。事件视界望远镜的M87影像经过强化，以更清晰的呈现这个著名的超大质量黑洞。

这不可忽视: NASA的黑洞周！

明日的图片: pixels in spacetime