A black hole caught blowing a gust

Lurking about 70 million light years away from Earth in the constellation Grus, you will find the galaxy NGC 7582 — a spiral galaxy harbouring a supermassive black hole at its core. These images were captured as part of a study using the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to uncover the effect of an active black hole on the formation of stars in the galaxy.

The galaxy contains an active galactic nucleus (AGN)  — an extremely energetic central engine powered by the supermassive black hole gobbling up material in its immediate surroundings.  Matter heats up in this process, launching huge amounts of energy and powerful winds into the surrounding area. But what effect does this have on the galaxy at large? 

To find out, a recent study, led by Stéphanie Juneau from NSF's NOIRLab in the USA, looked at the distribution of different ionised elements in the galaxy. This image shows oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen in blue, green and red respectively. The red glowing areas are regions of high star formation activity, whereas the dominant blue regions show the cone-shaped material flowing out of the AGN. Compare it with this image, which covers the same area, shows a more classical view of this galaxy, with dust lanes obscuring blue and orange starlight.

MUSE also allowed the team to map the motion of the stars and gas. They discovered that NGC 7582 may have a structure surrounding its central supermassive black hole that shields the rest of the galaxy from the harsh outflow of energy coming from the AGN, diverting it away from it in the form of an extremely powerful wind.

Alternative versions of this image

Crédit:

ESO / Juneau et al.

À propos de l'image

Identification:potw2206c
Type:Observation
Date de publication:7 février 2022 06:00
Taille:598 x 610 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:NGC 7582
Type:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Distance:70 million années lumière
Constellation:Grus
Catégorie:Galaxies

Image Formats

Grand JPEG
75,7 Kio
JPEG taille écran
103,8 Kio

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107,7 Kio
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202,0 Kio
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Coordinates

Position (RA):23 18 23.71
Position (Dec):-42° 22' 14.08"
Field of view:1.00 x 1.02 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 89.9° left of vertical

Couleurs & filtres

DomaineLongueur d'ondeTélescope
Visible
O III
502 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE
Visible
NII
575 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE
Visible
H-alpha
656 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE