Very Large Telescope (VLT) image of galaxy Messier 87 (M87). M87 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo, 50 million light years away from Earth. It has a supermassive black hole at its core which gathers infalling material and produces powerful jets that launch energetic particles outwards. One of the largest galaxies in the local universe, M87 has a mass twice the size of the Milky Way. Image obtained using the FORS2 (Focal Reducer and Low Dispersion Spectrograph) instrument on the Very Large Telescope.