Image of the Day: Spectacular Jets of a Supermassive Black Hole Dwarf their Galaxy
The innocuous-looking galaxy, elliptical galaxy Hercules A,also known as 3C 348, has long been known as the brightest radio-emitting object in the constellation Hercules. Emitting nearly a billion times more power in radio wavelengths than our Sun, the galaxy is one of the brightest extragalactic radio sources in the entire sky created by spectacular jets powered by the gravitational energy of a super massive black hole in the core of the galaxy.
But the innocuous-looking galaxy, also known as 3C 348, has long been known as the brightest radio-emitting object in the constellation Hercules. Emitting nearly a billion times more power in radio wavelengths than our Sun, the galaxy is one of the brightest extragalactic radio sources in the entire sky.
The VLA radio data reveal enormous, optically invisible jets that, at one-and-a-half million light-years wide, dwarf the visible galaxy from which they emerge. The jets are very-high-energy plasma beams, subatomic particles and magnetic fields shot at nearly the speed of light from the vicinity of the black hole. The outer portions of both jets show unusual ring-like structures suggesting a history of multiple outbursts from the super massive black hole at the center of the galaxy.
The innermost parts of the jets are not visible because of the extreme velocity of the material, which causes relativistic effects that beam the light away from us. Far from the galaxy, the jets become unstable and break up into the rings and wisps.*The entire radio source is surrounded by a very hot, X-ray-emitting cloud of gas, not seen in this optical-radio composite.
Hubble's view of the field also shows a companion elliptical galaxy very close to the center of the optical-radio source, which may be merging with the central galaxy. Several other elliptical and spiral galaxies that are visible in the Hubble data may be members of a cluster of galaxies.Hercules A is by far the brightest and most massive galaxy in the cluster.
The image at the top of the page illustrates the combined imaging power of two of astronomy's cutting-edge tools, the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, and the recently upgraded Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico.
The Daily Galaxy via http://www1.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/hercules-a.html
Comments
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It almost obvious that these huge crunchers must be the basis for the creation of something new, something important, what happens once matter falls in? What happens once it surpasses a certain threshold?
Posted by: DwarfGalaxy | December 01, 2012 at 10:49 AM
"agreeable to my personal sensibilities despite no indication whatsoever to the aforesaid effect" does NOT mean "almost obvious", DwarfGalaxy.
Not that my gut feeling is very different from yours. We just shouldn't confuse a layman enthusiast's unfounded gut feeling with the actual truth. That way lies the denial of evolution and the burning of witches at the stake. Let's not take that road; let's not even linger in the crossroads for too long.
Posted by: Lolington Rofflewraithe, esq. | December 02, 2012 at 01:04 AM
It appears that the black hole's mass must be greater than the whole galaxy to produce results of this magnitude.
Posted by: enhartiii | December 02, 2012 at 08:06 AM
Almost obvious to me :), but then again these are just light impulsive comments...and english is not my native language, so I do the best I can :) sorry!
Posted by: DwarfGalaxy | December 02, 2012 at 01:25 PM
@Lolington Rofflewraithe, esq. What's wrong with burning witches? The only historical issue with this practice was the highly erroneous methods of *proving* that someone was in fact, a witch.
Besides all that, this galaxy is a perfect example of a Type III civilization technology affectionately known as a "camp fire".
Posted by: Sad King Billy | December 03, 2012 at 08:20 AM