19 August 2026
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Magda Arnaboldi

News

Messier 87 has swallowed an entire galaxy in the last billion years

26 June 2015 Astronomy Now

M87 is a giant elliptical galaxy with a total mass more than a million million times that of the Sun that lies at the centre of the Virgo Cluster about 50 million light-years away. New observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope have revealed the full extent of the galaxy’s cannibalistic nature.

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News Headlines

  • How to observe the 12 August 2026 solar eclipse
    7 August 2026
  • Falcon 9 lunar impact: More than a new crater
    5 August 2026
  • Euclid opens a new window on the first billion years of cosmic history
    25 July 2026
  • Caught in the act: the wind that could kill a galaxy
    10 June 2026
  • Europe’s Mars rover may land in the remains of a vast ancient water system
    4 June 2026

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