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Credit & Copyright: NASA,
ESO ,
NAOJ,
Giovanni Paglioli;
Assembling and processing:
R. Colombari and
R. Gendler
Explanation:
What's happening at the center of spiral galaxy M106?
A swirling disk of stars and gas,
M106's appearance is dominated by blue spiral arms and red
dust lanes near the nucleus, as shown in the
featured image.
The core of
M106 glows brightly in
radio waves and
X-rays where
twin jets have been found running the length of the galaxy.
An unusual central glow makes
M106 one of the closest examples of the
Seyfert class of galaxies,
where vast amounts of glowing gas are thought
to be falling into a central massive
black hole.
M106,
also designated
NGC 4258,
is a relatively close 23.5 million light years away,
spans 60 thousand
light years across, and can be seen with a small telescope
towards the constellation of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici).
Astrophysicists:
Browse 1,000+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: M 106 - spiral galaxy - Seyfert galaxy
Publications with words: M 106 - spiral galaxy - Seyfert galaxy
See also: