Streaming From A Black Hole
Explanation:
Glowing gas clouds are
streaming from the core of galaxy NGC4151 at
hundreds of thousands of miles per hour.
A powerful tool,
the Hubble Space Telescope's
new STIS instrument,
makes it possible to map out the cloud velocities - producing
this false color "velocity map" for the central regions of NGC4151.
The horizontal line is light from the intensely bright region near
the galaxy nucleus.
Emission at two wavelengths characteristic of Oxygen atoms
in the gas clouds
is visible along this line.
Below the line the emission is displaced to the left, indicating motion
toward us
(
blue shift); above the displacement is to the right indicating
a receding motion
(
red shift).
Where do the clouds come from?
As evidence mounts,
the widely accepted explanation for energetic
nuclear activity in galaxies is based on material spiraling
into a central
black hole with over a million
times the mass of our sun.
The rotating disk of interstellar debris which develops is thought
to blast out high velocity jets along the axis of the disk.
Do all galaxies contain supermassive black holes?
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.
