The relativistic jet of M87, with Hubble comparison

[SkyViking]

Hi everybody, here is another image I took a few days ago. I enjoy capturing some of the more unusual objects around and this one is no ordinary beast :)

This image shows a luminous jet emerging from the center of giant elliptical galaxy M87. The visible features of the jet corresponds very well with the Hubble image.

Relativistic jets are extremely powerful jets of plasma which emerge from presumed massive objects at the centers of some active galaxies, notably radio galaxies and quasars. Their lengths can reach many thousand light years.
The jet of M87 extends at least 5000 light years from the galactic nucleus and is made up of matter ejected from the galaxy by a supermassive black hole in its center.
It is believed that the twisting of magnetic fields in the accretion disk collimates the outflow along the rotation axis of the central object, so that when conditions are suitable, a jet will emerge from each face of the accretion disk.
The light we see is produced by electrons twisting along magnetic field lines in the jet, a process known as synchrotron radiation, which gives the jet its bluish tint. This contrasts with the reddish glow from the combined light of billions of aging stars in the galaxy itself.
The mechanics behind both the creation of relativistic jets and their composition are still a matter of much debate in the scientific community.

Image details:
Taken 08/04/2010
Exposure: 57 x 30.5s with 10” Newton/ToUCam Pro SC1
No filters, no guiding

Hope you enjoy!
Comments and critique is welcome as always.

Regards, Rolf

[duncan]

Hi Rolf,
That's a fantastic image!!! and with a Toucam to boot. Very well done.
Cheers,
Duncan:)

[renormalised]

I totally agree with Duncan here....a ToUCam producing an image that good on something other than the Moon or a planet!!! No filters or guiding and short subs. Seeing and transparency must have been top order :)

Excellent shot :)

[multiweb]

:eyepop: Very very cool indeed. Kudos to you. :thumbsup:

[TrevorW]

Love the presentation

[[1ponders]]

Wow! Impressive Rolf, very impressive. :thumbsup:

[AlexN]

Outstanding work Rolf..

Every time you post an image, I'm amazed at what can be achieved with a webcam... Its fantastic..

[gregbradley]

What a fabulous image. Well done.

Greg.

[JD2439975]

I was under the impression this could only be achieved with very expensive scopes & cameras...oh how wrong I was.
That is a real eyeopener Rolf, fantastic image.
Makes me wonder how a HDR treatment would go on this object.

Keep 'em coming Rolf, you're giving me an education. :lol::thumbsup:

Justin

[iceman]

Wow, that is very very cool!
Awesome work Rolf!

[Waxing_Gibbous]

That's incredible!!
Well done!!!

[SkyViking]

Thank you Duncan :)


Thanks Carl, yes short subs is the key. It only works for reasonably bright objects though.


Thanks Marc :)


Thank you Trevor :)


Thanks very much Paul :)


Thanks Alex, glad you liked it :)


Thanks a lot Greg :)


Thank you very much Justin. Yeah the ToUCam is quite good in certain aspects. Though I'm sure I could get an improved image with a proper CCD sensor - more sensitivity would allow for even shorter subs.


Thank you very much Mike. Capturing plasma at relativistic speeds is quite cool I have to admit :)


Thank you Peter :)

[Virgs]

That is extremely impressive

[Ric]

Blimey, that's a ripper Rolf.

Your work never fails to impress.

Cheers

[rogerg]

Love your tract of imaging something so different, great stuff.

And to top it off you've done this with a ToUCam at 30.5s exposures! That shows up those of us with CCD's doesn't it ;) ... "get off your ass and do something interesting..." I hear the back of my brain saying.

Inspirational.

[Ken Crawford]

Congrats on a fine result - it is always fun to push your equipment and processing to dig out such fine details.

[duncan]

Hi Rolf,

Just wondering what programs you used with the Toucam and how much gain,gamma etc. you used?
Cheers,
Duncan:)

[Octane]

Rolf,

Just like each image you've posted in recent times, this is fantastic. I can't believe how much detail you've managed to capture using such short exposures and what essentially amounts to a web cam.

You should be well chuffed.

Well done!

H

[SkyViking]

Thank you :)


Thanks very much Ric!


Thanks for your kind words Roger, glad you liked it. It is exiting to image these things that are off the beaten path :)


Thank you very much Ken, indeed it is good fun to push the equipment to the edge.


Hi Duncan, I use K3CCDCapture with brightness usually set to max, gamma 50% and then I adjust the gain to suit. Of course with more gain comes more noise so I try to keep it as low as possible, but it depends on the subject.
I do stacking in Registax 5 and my processing in PixInsight LE (love the DBE feature) and then fine tuning in Photoshop CS2.


Thank you very much Humayun. I see you're off to NZ, enjoy your trip!
Looking forward to see what you can do with your new CCD once you're back :)

[strongmanmike]

Fantastic capture Rolf :thumbsup:
Mike

[SkyViking]

Thank you Mike, glad you liked it :)