• Mark Alan Lovewell

Black Hole in Virgo

The photographed black hole that received world-wide attention last week resides in the constellation Virgo. While the celestial object and the galaxy it resides in can't be viewed with the naked eye, you can have some satisfaction tonight when you look up at the full moon.

The full moon (the Daffodil Moo), is in Virgo. While the moon is slightly east of the black hole's location, the moon identifies a key area of the sky where there are hundreds of thousands of galaxies.

The black hole was photographed in a galaxy called M87. The galaxy is hardly alone. There are thousands of galaxies in its immediate vicinity. Galaxy M87 is an astounding super elliptical galaxy, 200 times bigger than our own Milky Way and that means considerably more stars. The galaxy is also so far away, light coming to the Earth left the galaxy 53 million years ago.

The constellation Virgo is our window to the distant reach of the universe.

Sunrise and Sunset
Day Sunrise Sunset
Fri., April 19 5:56 7:26
Sat., April 20 5:54 7:27
Sun., April 21 5:53 7:29
Mon., April 22 5:51 7:30
Tues., April 23 5:48 7:31
Wed., April 24 5:47 7:32
Thurs., April 25 5:45 7:33
Fri., April 26 5:44 7:34
Temperatures and Precipitations
Day Max (Fº) Min (Fº) Inches
April 12 51 39 0.00
April 13 56 44 T
April 14 55 46 0.16
April 15 68 52 0.47
April 16 58 41 0.34
April 17 59 40 0.00
April 18 58 36 T

 

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 50º F

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