The Circinus Galaxy
Explanation:
Powerful forces are at play in the nearby Circinus Galaxy.
Hot gas, colored pink, is being ejected out of the
spiral galaxy
from the central region.
Much of
Circinus' tumultuous gas, however,
is concentrated in two rings.
The outer ring, located about 700
light-years from the center, appears mostly red and
is home to tremendous bursts of
star formation.
A
previously unseen inner ring,
inside the green disk above,
is visible only 130 light years from the center on
this recently released, representative color image
taken by the
Hubble Space Telescope.
At the very
center is an
active galactic nucleus,
where matter glows brightly before
likely spiraling into a massive
black hole.
Although only 15 million light years distant, the
Circinus Galaxy went unnoticed until 25 years ago
because it is so obscured by material in the
plane of our own Galaxy.
The galaxy can be seen with a small telescope, however, in the
constellation of
Circinus.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
