<p>I'm referring to the infamous relativistic jet, which consists of matter being accelerated to near the speed of light, originating at the poles of the black hole: </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/zKnOr.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/zKnOr.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>But in the image of the black hole in the radio spectrum nothing of the sort is visible:  </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/MTf2C.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/MTf2C.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>I would expect the relativistic jet to be one of the most prominent features since it's accelerated much more that other material orbiting the black hole.  </p>

<p>Is it because the jet is more prominently visible in the visible and infrared spectrum than in the radio spectrum?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-12T12:24:47.507Z
I think you need to look into the scale of the images. The radio image is a massively "zoomed in" view of the centre of the bright dot at the top left of the other image. So most of the jet would be out of the picture. Whether there is a part that close to the SMBH and it's simply too dim, or too distorted, to see or whether the jet actually starts a bit further away, I don't know.
Steve Linton
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-12T19:59:42.177Z
actually what is the scale difference on the two images?  10 million to 1 ?  :O
Fattie
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-15T17:06:05.357Z
I just answered this on Physics SE and feel reluctant to just copy it here.  https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/472910/why-is-there-no-jet-visible-in-the-m87-black-hole-radio-image/472943#472943
ProfRob
<black-hole><radio-astronomy><m87><astronomical-jet>
Why isn't the relativistic jet visible in the image of the M87 black hole?
stackzebra
# Why isn't the relativistic jet visible in the image of the M87 black hole?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-04-12)

I'm referring to the infamous relativistic jet, which consists of matter being accelerated to near the speed of light, originating at the poles of the black hole:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/zKnOr.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/zKnOr.jpg)

But in the image of the black hole in the radio spectrum nothing of the sort is visible:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/MTf2C.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/MTf2C.jpg)

I would expect the relativistic jet to be one of the most prominent features since it's accelerated much more that other material orbiting the black hole.

Is it because the jet is more prominently visible in the visible and infrared spectrum than in the radio spectrum?

**Tags:** black-hole, radio-astronomy, m87, astronomical-jet

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I think you need to look into the scale of the images. The radio image is a massively "zoomed in" view of the centre of the bright dot at the top left of the other image. So most of the jet would be out of the picture. Whether there is a part that close to the SMBH and it's simply too dim, or too distorted, to see or whether the jet actually starts a bit further away, I don't know.  
> **username_2**: actually what is the scale difference on the two images?  10 million to 1 ?  :O  
> **username_3**: I just answered this on Physics SE and feel reluctant to just copy it here.  https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/472910/why-is-there-no-jet-visible-in-the-m87-black-hole-radio-image/472943#472943  

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## 0 answers

