Galactic Pyrotechnics

In the prosaic style of astronomical catalogues, it is known simply as M87. But there is nothing simple about the giant galaxy. Some 30 million light-years from earth and about 100 times the diameter of the sun's own Milky Way galaxy, M87 is a great spherical island of billions of stars apparently in the midst of a tremendous upheaval. Photographs of M87 taken through the 200-in. telescope atop California's Palomar Mountain seem to show (top) that the galaxy is shooting into space an enormous jet of material, equal to the mass of countless suns.

A new picture of the distant galaxy, taken by Hale Observatories Astronomer Halton Arp, reveals that M87 is even more remarkable than scientists had thought. The product of computer-enhancement techniques developed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Arp's picture shows that M87 is ejecting not merely a single stream of matter but a whole series of dense, luminous objects (bottom). Says Arp: "The galaxy must have undergone an explosion or a succession of explosions that threw them out at high velocity. The most intriguing question is: What will they develop into?"

Even the imaginative Arp, who specializes in studying peculiar galaxies and has long been known for his unconventional ideas, is at a loss to explain such galactic pyrotechnics--though he admits that "it will certainly be fun to speculate." In any case, Arp has every reason to be pleased. The dramatic photograph provides new evidence for one of his favorite themes: that the universe is filled with strange, awesome events that totally defy orthodox explanation.

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