The Swirling Center of NGC 4261
Explanation:
What evil lurks in the hearts of galaxies? The
above picture
by the
Hubble Space Telescope of the center of the
nearby galaxy NGC 4261 tells us one
dramatic
tale. Here
gas and
dust are
seen swirling near this
elliptical galaxy's center into what is almost
certainly a massive
black hole. The disk is probably what remains
of a
smaller galaxy that fell in hundreds of millions of years ago. Collisions
like this may be a common way of creating such active galactic nuclei as
quasars.
Strangely, the center of this fiery whirlpool is offset from the
exact center of the galaxy - for a reason that for now remains an
astronomical mystery.
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.
