Messier 87
This enormous elliptical galaxy is home of several trillion stars some 15,000 globular star clusters.
Distance
54 million light-years
Apparent Magnitude
9.6
constellation
Virgo
object type
Elliptical Galaxy
![M87](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/m87-full_jpg-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
The elliptical galaxy M87 is the home of several trillion stars, a supermassive black hole and a family of roughly 15,000 globular star clusters. For comparison, our Milky Way galaxy contains only a few hundred billion stars and about 150 globular clusters. The monstrous M87 is the dominant member of the neighboring Virgo cluster of galaxies, which contains some 2,000 galaxies. Discovered in 1781 by Charles Messier, this galaxy is located 54 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo. It has an apparent magnitude of 9.6 and can be observed using a small telescope most easily in May.
![M87 jet](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/m87-jet-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
The jet released from the galactic center is a black-hole-powered stream of material that is being ejected from M87’s core. As gaseous material from the center of the galaxy accretes onto the black hole, the energy released produces a stream of subatomic particles that are accelerated to velocities near the speed of light.
At the center of the Virgo cluster, M87 may have accumulated some of its many globular clusters by gravitationally pulling them from nearby dwarf galaxies that seem to be devoid of such clusters today.
For more information about Hubble’s observations of M87, see:
![locator star chart for M87](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/m87-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
![A star chart shows M87 as seen from the Southern Hemisphere in the northern night sky in May at 10pm.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/m87-star-chart-sh.png?w=4096&format=png)
Explore Hubble's Messier Catalog
The following pages contain some of Hubble’s best images of Messier objects.
![Bright green, orange, and yellow tendrils intertwined within this egg shaped nebula.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/crab-nebula-mosaic-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
Messier 1 (The Crab Nebula)
Better known as the Crab Nebula, Charles Messier originally mistook Messier 1 for Halley’s Comet, which inspired him to create…
![A Hubble image of a ball of thousands of stars](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/m2-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
Messier 2
Hubble's image of Messier 2 is comprised of visible and infrared wavelengths of light.
![Hubble view of M3 - a ball of thousands of stars.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/m3-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
Messier 3
Messier 3 holds more than 500,000 stars.