Images of gamma-ray flare from supermassive black hole M87

The M87 jet can be optically imaged by amateurs too, here is an image I took using a 400mm (focal length) f&#x2F;2.8 camera lens, a cooled cmos sensor, and many hours of observation: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nt4tn.net&#x2F;astro&#x2F;M87jet.png" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nt4tn.net&#x2F;astro&#x2F;M87jet.png</a><p>The image is a crop and contrast boost of this image: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nt4tn.net&#x2F;astro&#x2F;virgo2.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nt4tn.net&#x2F;astro&#x2F;virgo2.jpg</a><p>Light pollution renders such observations increasingly difficult, of course... but Marin&#x27;s ban on outdoor advertising at least makes it possible here, unlike much of the bay area where stars can hardly be observed at all.

What blows my mind is the fact that the jet emanating from M87 is thousands of lightyears across. This means you could live out your life on a planet orbiting a star near the jet and probably wouldn&#x27;t notice anything out of the ordinary. The scale of that structure is absolutely mind-boggling.

I just wish there were a higher resolution image than the one linked in that website. The original photos of M87 are so stunning and have such a cool story where they split the research group into two teams and they both came to the same conclusion about the discovery of the black hole. The photos that go along with the original discovery were my wallpaper forever because it just looks so awesome.

Too see the flare from the side bothers me the most. There&#x27;s so much energy traveling away from us that it&#x27;s lighting up space enough for the flare, again not pointing at us, to outshine the galaxy.

something i&#x27;ve wondering, does a jet like this &quot;push&quot; the blackhole in any way?