Detailed footage of a galaxy with a black hole in the middle obtained

Detailed footage of a galaxy with a black hole in the middle obtained
Detailed footage of a galaxy with a black hole in the middle obtained
Anonim

Image taken with Nicholas W. Mayall's 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in the American Sonoran Desert.

This highly detailed shot shows a glowing spiral arm and beams of gas and dust streaks in the galactic core. In addition, wiggling stripes of stars are visible at its outer edge.

Many say that Messier 106 is similar in size and luminosity to the Andromeda galaxy. However, Messier 106 is about ten times further away, more than 20 million light-years from Earth. Its dimensions reach 130,000 light years from edge to edge (this is a special dimension in space). By the way, it is the enormous distance from the Earth that allows modern instruments to detect the galaxy and capture it entirely in the photo.

At the center of Messier 106 is a supermassive black hole. It is extraordinarily energetic and about 40 million times more massive than the Sun. The black hole absorbs huge amounts of gas and dust from the surrounding disk of gas. This process produces bright red streaks of gas emanating from the heart of the galaxy - visible in the center of the image.

The image also shows a pair of dwarf galaxies that belong to the same galactic group as Messier 106.

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