M87 «HOT ⇒»

M87 is most famous for its central supermassive black hole, designated *. It was the first black hole ever directly imaged, a milestone announced by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration in April 2019.

: Follow-up observations, including polarized light images released in 2021, have mapped the strong magnetic fields at the black hole’s edge. These fields are critical for understanding how the black hole launches its signature jets. M87 is most famous for its central supermassive

: It is estimated to be 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun . These fields are critical for understanding how the

: The famous 2019 image shows a bright, asymmetrical ring of light surrounding a dark central "shadow". This ring is caused by light bending in the intense gravity of the black hole, with the brighter side resulting from the Doppler effect as material rotates toward Earth. This ring is caused by light bending in