NGC 5194
Credit X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Texas/E.Schlegel et al; Optical: NASA/STScI
Credit X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Texas/E.Schlegel et al; Optical: NASA/STScI
X-ray close-up
Credit
X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Texas/E.Schlegel et al
Astronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to discover one of the nearest supermassive black holes to Earth that is currently undergoing powerful outbursts, as described in our latest press release. This galactic burping was found in the Messier 51 galaxy, which is located about 26 million light years
from Earth and, contains a large spiral galaxy NGC 5194 (also known by
its nickname of the "Whirlpool"), merging with a smaller companion
galaxy NGC 5195.
This main panel of this graphic shows M51 in visible light data from
the Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, and blue). The box at the top of
the image outlines the field of view by Chandra in the latest study,
which focuses on the smaller component of M51, NGC 5195.
The inset to the right shows the details of the Chandra data (blue) of this region. Researchers found a pair of arcs in X-ray emission
close to the center of the galaxy, which they interpret as two
outbursts from the galaxy's supermassive black hole (mouse over
annotated image for additional information). The authors estimate that
it took about one to three million years for the inner arc to reach its
current position, and three to six million years for the outer arc.
Just outside the outer X-ray arc is a slender region of hydrogen emission
detected in an optical image. This suggests that the X-ray emitting gas
has "snow-plowed" or swept-up the hydrogen gas from the center of the
galaxy. This is a clear case where a supermassive black hole is
affecting its host galaxy, in a phenomenon that astronomers called
"feedback."
This arc of hydrogen gas contains what appears to be two or three
small "HII regions." An HII (pronounced "H-two") region is created when
the radiation from hot, young stars strips away the electrons from
neutral hydrogen atoms (HI) to form clouds of ionized hydrogen (HII).
This suggests that the outer arc has plowed up enough material to
trigger the formation of new stars.
The outbursts of the supermassive black hole in NGC 5195 may have
been triggered by the interaction of this galaxy with the large spiral
galaxy in M51, causing gas to be disrupted and then funneled down
towards the black hole.
These results were presented at the 227th meeting of the American
Astronomical Society meeting in Kissimmee, Florida. They are also in a
paper submitted to The Astrophysical Journal and the authors are Eric
Schlegel (University of Texas at San Antonio), Christine Jones
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), Marie Marachek (CfA), and
Laura Vega (Fisk University and Vanderbilt University Bridge Program).
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages
the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, controls Chandra's science and flight operations. Swift
is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Fast Facts for NGC 5195:
Scale: Main image is about 6 x 10 arcmin (About 45,000 x 76,000 light years) Pullout image is 3 arcmin across (about 23,000 light years)
Category: Normal Galaxies & Starburst Galaxies
Coordinates (J2000): RA 13h 29m 59.9s | Dec +47° 15' 58.00"
Constellation: Canes Venatici
Observation Date: 11 pointings between Mar 2000 and Oct 2012
Observation Time: 232 hours 10 min. (9 days 16 hours 10 min)
Obs. ID: 353,354,1622,3932,13812-13816,15496,15553
Instrument: ACIS
References: Schlegel, E. et al, AAS 227, 5-8 Jan 2016
Color Code: X-ray (Blue); Optical (Red, Green, Blue)
Distance Estimate: About 26 million light years
Source: NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory
