A deep look into M87

We have imaged M87 using RGB broadband filters (Astrodon Gen2 I-series RGB) with a Meade LX200 ACF 10” and a QHY268m imaging camera. We have obtained an integrated image for each color filter by stacking 250 subexposures of 300 seconds each. To reveal faint details overshadowed by this bright galaxy, we subtracted a realistic model of M87 – created using a two dimensional parametric fitting algorithm (GALFIT v.3) – from all three integrated images.

After subtraction, apart from the famous bright blue jet and numerous globular cluster candidates, some non-stellar emission features became evident in all wavelengths, with the brightest appearing in the red filter window (590 nm to 700 nm).
These structures, along with dark dust lanes, are not artifacts generated by the galaxy subtraction process but are real features. Those near the M87 core have been previously imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in a narrower field of view. According to the literature, these features could potentially be structures related to the counterjet, such as counterjet-generated shockfront.
To the best of our knowledge this is the first wide field, galaxy-subtracted broadband RGB image of M87.
Publication is pending.
Authors: Attilio Bruzzone and Antonio Ferretti – Gruppo Astrofili Frentani