Starship Asterisk*

Phil G wrote:Question: NGC1097 appears in fairly clear detail, considering, but the smaller galaxy is just a smosh of light with a couple spots. If it were at nearly the same distance, wouldn't it have better detail? This picture gives me the impression that the "companion" is actually much farther away.

Hello Phil:

I noticed the same thing while preparing this picture- the small irregular galaxy is veiled by a huge amount of dusty material (caused by its interaction with the large spiral) that smears and fogs a clearer view of its shape. It is somewhat doubtful, however, that it has much structure.

Jay

Question: NGC1097 appears in fairly clear detail, considering, but the smaller galaxy is just a smosh of light with a couple spots. If it were at nearly the same distance, wouldn't it have better detail? This picture gives me the impression that the "companion" is actually much farther away.

I'd have to say that this is an example of an off axis quasar. The beams are too straight and perfect to be anything other than light beams. I held a piece of paper up to the monitor and aligned it to the beams - absolutely no curvature at all. Also, they can't be lens flare from some bright source in the galaxy, since they don't line up with the lens flare of the stars in the image.

Also, given that the accepted explaination of quasars is that they're supermassive active black holes, a galactic collision like this seems the perfect place to look.

The black hold would not nessicarily have to be at the center of the galaxy, just somewhere where a lot of matter from the collision is blasting through, and since light moves at least 1000 times faster than an object orbits its galaxy, the beams would appear straight, even over hundards of thousands of lightyears. Not that this matters, since the beams are perfectly alligned with the nucleus of the larger galaxy.

If that really is what these beams are, then we have a wealth on information here about the composition of intergalactic space. Just figure out how the spectra of the jets compares to various compounds absorbing highly energetic light from the quasar.

From reading a little bit of the links real quick, it sounds like there's actually been some stars and dust kicked out into the jet by a much older galactic merger, accounting for the glow. I guess just on the scale individual stars don't appears as discreet points.

Strangely though, almost no free hydrogen according one paper...

Since the jets appear to be visible light wavelength instead of radio or x-ray wavelengths, could the central mass be a Quasar (that spins like a top rather than a beacon) instead of a BH? The explanation states that the interracting companion galaxy lies about 42000ly from the galactic center, that would size this galaxy at approx 100,000 ly diameter, could a Quasar be massive enough to anchor an entire galaxy that size? Or would it be possible for a Quasar to have sufficient angular momentum to be orbiting imperceptably close to a massive BH?

I think there's a paper on this object's "jets" - they are best explained as streams of a dwarf galaxy that is/was completely disrupted ("tidally") when it came rather too close to the core of NGC 1097.

The evidence pointing to this conclusion, and ruling out alternative explanations, is rich and complex, and includes simulations of what would happen to a dwarf galaxy's stars, in this kind of 'close encounter'; IIRC, alternative explanations are ruled out, in part, because the spectra of the jets is quite unlike what those alternatives would predict ....

Lester Leaps In; before clicking on any of the links, my first impression is;

The center of the galaxy has something energetic at its core. It is making equal and opposite jets ; the core is rotating ! ; as the jets exit, they don't rotate as the core is rotating, they go straight out, but because the core is rotating the jets appear to change course and wiggle around as they move beyond the perimeter of the galaxy; as well as spiraling in to the center of the galaxy from the perimeter.

Now the gravitationally interacting satellite galaxy, could be affecting the jets when they are beyond their galactic perimeter, and adding to their swoon.

Whatever is in the core is most powerful in its jets.
Halton Arp found a good one here !

My thoughts run to, the magnetics are weak and the energy is leaking out; or maybe the magnetics are so strong the bursting pressure is high before the jets can break thru. Like a firecracker with torn paper, the pop is muted. The magnetic bottle is so good , the pressure is really high before containment breech, and thus the jets are the most powerful ever seen ?

The orbiting galaxy, an elliptical it looks to be; if we could only know its mass !! we'd postulate a lot about the barred spirals interior forces.

===

Does this galaxy have a Red Shift z>3 ?
There may be a supermassive gravity-well anomaly that induces apparent red-shift, eventho the recessional velocity is low or moderate.

M87 is mainstream-thought to be 50 million LY away. So this system at 42 million LY is equivalent in some way. Tho, methods of distance determination are matters of splitting wavelengths.

If the elliptical was M87's size, that would be a Hoot !!

It looks like they are already starting to merge as the arms of the larger galaxy appears to be circling the smaller galaxy. A very impressive sight.
Orin

The description states "The faint details revealed include hints of a mysterious jet emerging toward the top of the view." This is an apparent visible light jet but it can be seen traversing in the opposite direction too in the larger view http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/ ... bany_f.jpg