Hubble Space Telescope Captures Image of Active Spiral Galaxy
The NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope took this image of the UGC 11397, a barred spiral galaxy that hosts a supermassive black hole in active growth.
This Hubble image shows UGC 11397, a spiral galaxy barred at around 250 million light years in the constellation of Lyra. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / MJ KOSS / AJ Barth.
Also known as IRAS 19019 + 3346, LEDA 62725 or TC 872, UGC 11397 is around 250 million light years in the Lyra constellation.
The first reference known to this spiral galaxy comes from the catalog of galaxies and clusters of galaxies compiled by the Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky in 1966.
“At first glance, the UGC 11397 seems to be an average spiral galaxy,” said Hubble astronomers in a press release.
“He sports two graceful spiral arms which are illuminated by stars and defined by dark and clumsy clouds of dust.”
“What distinguishes UGC 11397 from a typical spiral is in its center, where a supermassive black hole containing 174 million times the mass of the sun is developing,” they noted.
“As tilting black hole in gas, dust and even whole stars of its neighborhood, this condemned material warms up and organizes a fantastic spectacle of cosmic light.”
“The material trapped by the black hole emits the light from the gamma rays to the radio waves and can brighten up and fade without warning.”
“But in some galaxies, including UGC 11397, thick clouds of dust hide a large part of this energetic activity of view in optical light.”
“Despite this, the UGC 11397 UGC black growth was revealed through its brilliant X -ray emission.”
This has led astronomers to classify it like a type 2 Seyfert galaxy, a category used for active galaxies whose central regions are hidden in view visible by a cloud of dust and nut -shaped gas.
“Using Hubble, we will study hundreds of galaxies which, like UGC 11397, are home to a supermassive hole which is gaining mass,” said the researchers.
“Hubble observations will help us to weigh the black supermassive holes nearby, to understand how black holes grew early in the history of the universe and even study how the stars are formed in the extreme environment found at the center of a galaxy.”
