Question 1

True or false: Messier 87 is located in the Virgo Cluster and is one of the largest galaxies in the nearby universe.

Accepted Answer

True. M87 is a giant elliptical galaxy at the heart of the Virgo Cluster, spanning about 120,000 light-years across.

Question 2

True or false: Messier 87 contains a supermassive black hole that was the first ever directly imaged by humanity.

Accepted Answer

True. The Event Horizon Telescope captured the first image of a black hole in 2019, targeting M87's core black hole, M87*.

Question 3

True or false: Messier 87 was discovered by Charles Messier himself in 1781 using a small refracting telescope.

Accepted Answer

False. M87 was actually discovered by French astronomer Pierre Méchain in 1781, not by Messier himself.

Question 4

True or false: The black hole in Messier 87 is actually smaller than the one at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

Accepted Answer

False. M87's black hole is about 6.5 billion solar masses, far larger than Sagittarius A* at 4 million solar masses.

Question 5

True or false: Messier 87 is slowly falling into the Andromeda Galaxy and will merge with it in about 4 billion years.

Accepted Answer

False. M87 is in the Virgo Cluster, far from Andromeda; the Milky Way and Andromeda will merge, not M87.

Question 6

True or false: The globular clusters orbiting Messier 87 number over 12,000, far more than the Milky Way's 150.

Accepted Answer

True. M87 has an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 globular clusters, a record for any known galaxy.

Question 7

True or false: The light from Messier 87's black hole shadow appears blue due to intense X-ray emissions.

Accepted Answer

False. The black hole shadow appears as a dark region against orange-glowing hot gas, not blue; X-rays are invisible to the eye.

Question 8

True or false: The jet of plasma shooting from Messier 87's core travels at speeds exceeding 99% the speed of light.

Accepted Answer

True. M87's relativistic jet appears superluminal due to beaming effects, with plasma moving at 99.5% of light speed.

Messier 87 Trivia Questions