Free Astronomy Magazine May-June 2021

34 MAY-JUNE 2021 ASTRO PUBLISHING which is a combination of the highly collimated central rela- tivistic jet (much smaller in width) and the envelope of non-relativistic material sur- rounding it. We measured the size of an object located 53 million light- years from Earth, with an error of less than 500 light-years. The difference between our values and the official ones may be due to the fact that we likely were not capturing the T he jet of M87. OLA, 9 March 2019. [M. Sánchez (SAG), A. Porcel (SAG/OLA)] T he La Laguna Astronomical Ob- servatory is a structure dedi- cated to astronomical observation, research and dissemination in col- laboration with the Sociedad As- tronómica Granadina. very end of the jet in our images, a region that is perhaps more nebu- lous than the rest. It is evident that it is possible to ob- tain measurements that correspond to professionally-obtained values with amateur instruments. This has opened our minds in two re- spects: firstly, and contrary to what one might think, it is relatively easy to find examples of mathematics ap- plied to astronomical observations made by amateurs, which can be ex- trapolated to educational centers or astronomical associations in the form of a laboratory exercise, where stu- dents or participants can experience firsthand how to gather evidence (images), extract data and apply the- ory to see how what sometimes ap- pears to us as something unattain- able can actually be reproducible and verifiable by ourselves. Secondly, it shows us that if these kinds of ob- servations are done rigorously, any- one can do good science, which is extremely motivating. !