NAOJ: Minor Merger Kicks Supermassive Black Hole into High Gear

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bystander
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NAOJ: Minor Merger Kicks Supermassive Black Hole into High Gear

Post by bystander » Tue Oct 31, 2017 5:23 pm

Minor Merger Kicks Supermassive Black Hole into High Gear
Subaru Telescope | National Astronomical Observatory of Japan | 2017 Oct 31
[c][attachment=0]M77_HSC.jpg[/attachment][/c][hr][/hr]
The galaxy Messier 77 (M77) is famous for its super-active nucleus that releases enormous energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, ranging from x-ray to radio wavelengths. Yet, despite its highly active core, the galaxy looks like any normal quiet spiral. There's no visual sign of what is causing its central region to radiate so extensively. It has long been a mystery why only the center of M77 is so active. Astronomers suspect a long-ago event involving a sinking black hole, which could have kicked the core into high gear.

To test their ideas about why the central region of M77 beams massive amounts of radiation, a team of researchers at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and the Open University of Japan used the Subaru Telescope to study M77. The unprecedented deep image of the galaxy reveals evidence of a hidden minor merger billions of years ago. The discovery gives crucial evidence for the minor merger origin of active galactic nuclei. ...

Morphological Evidence for a Past Minor Merger in the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 1068 - Ichi Tanaka, Masafumi Yagi, Yoshiaki Taniguchi
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=37358
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=36377
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=35480
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=31042
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The deep image of Messier 77 taken with the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) <br />mounted at the Subaru Telescope. The picture is created by adding the color <br />information from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to the monochromatic image <br />acquired by the HSC. (Credit: NAOJ/SDSS/David Hogg/Michael Blanton. <br />Image Processing: Ichi Tanaka)
The deep image of Messier 77 taken with the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC)
mounted at the Subaru Telescope. The picture is created by adding the color
information from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to the monochromatic image
acquired by the HSC. (Credit: NAOJ/SDSS/David Hogg/Michael Blanton.
Image Processing: Ichi Tanaka)
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MargaritaMc
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Re: NAOJ: Minor Merger Kicks Supermassive Black Hole into High Gear

Post by MargaritaMc » Wed Nov 01, 2017 6:59 pm

Many thanks, bystander, for all the links to relevant threads.
"In those rare moments of total quiet with a dark sky, I again feel the awe that struck me as a child. The feeling is utterly overwhelming as my mind races out across the stars. I feel peaceful and serene."
&mdash; Dr Debra M. Elmegreen, Fellow of the AAAS
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