Heber Curtis records a curious straight ray in Messier 87
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Observing the nebula catalogued as Messier 87 at Lick Observatory, Heber Curtis noted a narrow linear feature projecting from its nucleus. It was the first observation of what is now understood to be a relativistic jet launched from the vicinity of a supermassive black hole, made some fifty years before black holes were taken seriously as astrophysical objects and a century before the object launching it was imaged. The feature remains one of the best-studied jets in astronomy.
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Connections · 2
- Relativistic jetconcerns
- M87* - the supermassive black hole in Messier 87concerns
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