by APOD Robot » Tue Mar 17, 2020 4:05 am
M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center
Explanation: What's happening in the center of nearby spiral galaxy M77? The face-on galaxy lies a mere 47 million
light-years away toward the constellation of the Sea Monster (
Cetus). At that estimated distance, this gorgeous
island universe is about 100 thousand light-years across. Also known as
NGC 1068, its compact and very bright core is well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of
supermassive black holes in active
Seyfert galaxies. M77 and its active core glows bright at
x-ray,
ultraviolet,
visible,
infrared, and
radio wavelengths. The
featured sharp image of M77 was taken by the
Hubble Space Telescope and is dominated by the (visible)
red light emitted by
hydrogen. The image shows details of the spiral's
winding spiral arms as traced by
obscuring dust clouds, and red-tinted star forming regions close in to the galaxy's luminous core.
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200317.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_200317.jpg[/img] [size=150]M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] What's happening in the center of nearby spiral galaxy M77? The face-on galaxy lies a mere 47 million [url=https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html]light-years[/url] away toward the constellation of the Sea Monster ([url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetus]Cetus[/url]). At that estimated distance, this gorgeous [url=https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March02/Gordon/Gordon2.html]island universe[/url] is about 100 thousand light-years across. Also known as [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_77]NGC 1068[/url], its compact and very bright core is well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130312.html]supermassive black holes[/url] in active [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seyfert_galaxy]Seyfert galaxies[/url]. M77 and its active core glows bright at [url=https://science.nasa.gov/ems/11_xrays]x-ray[/url], [url=https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves]ultraviolet[/url], [url=https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight]visible[/url], [url=https://science.nasa.gov/ems/07_infraredwaves]infrared[/url], and [url=https://science.nasa.gov/ems/05_radiowaves]radio[/url] wavelengths. The [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/geckzilla/15679524440/]featured sharp image[/url] of M77 was taken by the [url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/index.html]Hubble Space Telescope[/url] and is dominated by the (visible) [url=http://www.astronomyknowhow.com/hydrogen-alpha.htm]red light[/url] emitted by [url=https://periodic.lanl.gov/1.shtml]hydrogen[/url]. The image shows details of the spiral's [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161109.html]winding spiral arms[/url] as traced by [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130831.html]obscuring dust clouds[/url], and red-tinted star forming regions close in to the galaxy's luminous core.
[table][tr][td=left][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200316][b]<< Previous APOD[/b][/url][/td] [td=center][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/view_retro.php?date=0317][b]This Day in APOD[/b][/url][/td] [td=right][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200318][b]Next APOD >>[/b][/url][/td][/tr][/table]