This new image of the inner radio jet of galaxy M87 reveals a faint counter-jet previously theorized by astrophysicists.

M87, the central galaxy of the Virgo cluster, lies a distance of only 50 million light years from Earth.

The active nucleus of M87 consists of a black hole of approximately 3 billion solar masses. A disk of rapidly rotating gas around the nucleus (accretion disk) surrounds the black hole and matter ejects from the nucleus in a long jet of roughly 5000 light years, perpendicular to the disk.

Russian astrophysicist Iosif Shklovsky theorized in 1964 that such jets in powerful radio galaxies were likely to be two-sided. The one-sided appearance of most of the jets, suggested Shklovsky, might owe to effects caused by the position of the observer. This new image seems to confirm that hypothesis.

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--Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie Bonn and SPACE.com Staff

Credit: Y. Y. Kovalev/MPIfR Bonn