Hubble House Telescope picture of the spiral galaxy NGC 247 (Caldwell 62), which has the nickname the Needle’s Eye. Credit score: NASA, ESA, and H. Feng (Tsinghua College); Picture processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic College of America)
This NASAHubble House Telescope picture exhibits a bit of the spiral galaxy nicknamed the Needle’s Eye – an appropriately diminutive identify for a dwarf spiral galaxy. The Needle’s Eye, also called NGC 247 and Caldwell 62, is positioned about 11 million light-years away within the Sculptor Group, which is the closest group of galaxies to our personal (the Native Group). The galaxy was given its nickname as a result of one finish of it encompasses a unusual void of stars (not seen on this Hubble close-up, however seen within the extensive area view under from ESO’s La Silla Observatory).
This Hubble picture zooms into the very fringe of the galaxy, on the alternative aspect of the void. Beneath the sting of the galaxy’s disk, smaller and extra distant galaxies are seen, in addition to a really vivid foreground star that lies between us and NGC 247. Vivid crimson signifies areas of high-density gasoline and dirt, and vigorous star formation reasonably near the sting of the galaxy.
This image of the spiral galaxy NGC 247 was taken utilizing the Vast Area Imager (WFI) at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. NGC 247 is believed to lie about 11 million light-years away within the constellation of Cetus (The Whale). It is likely one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Means and a member of the Sculptor Group. Credit score: ESO
The “gap” in Caldwell 62 on the opposite aspect of the galaxy is a puzzling thriller. There's a scarcity of gasoline in that a part of the galaxy, which suggests there isn’t a lot materials from which new stars can type. Since star formation has halted on this space, previous, faint stars populate the void. Scientists nonetheless don’t understand how this unusual characteristic shaped, however research trace towards previous gravitational interactions with one other galaxy.
Caldwell 62 can be house to an object often called an ultraluminous X-ray supply. Scientists have lengthy debated the character of those super-bright X-ray sources. Are they stellar-mass black holes gorging on unusually giant quantities of gasoline? Or are they long-sought “intermediate-mass” black holes, dozens of instances extra huge than their stellar counterparts however smaller than the monster black holes within the facilities of most galaxies? By learning NGC 247 in a number of types of gentle (seen and infrared utilizing Hubble, and X-rays utilizing the Chandra X-ray Observatory), astronomers have discovered indicators that the X-rays are coming from a disk round an intermediate-mass black gap.
0 Response to "Hubble Captures a Dwarf Spiral Galaxy with Multiple Mysteries"
Posting Komentar