Close-up View of Black Hole-powered Spiral Galaxy IC 4709 | Hubble
The Hubble Space Telescope's view here is studded with stars. Many appear particularly large and bright thanks to their nearby locations in our own galaxy. They feature the characteristic diffraction patterns caused by Hubble’s optics. Much further away—around 240 million light-years distant, in fact, in the southern constellation Telescopium—is the spiral galaxy IC 4709. Its swirling disc, filled with stars and dust bands, is beautifully captured, as is the faint halo surrounding it. The compact region at its core might be the most remarkable sight, however, this is an active galactic nucleus (AGN).
If IC 4709’s core were just filled with stars, it would not be nearly so bright. Instead it hosts a gargantuan black hole, 65 million times the mass of our Sun. A disc of gas spirals around and eventually into this black hole, with the gas crashing together and heating up as it spins. It reaches such high temperatures that it emits vast quantities of electromagnetic radiation, from infrared to visible to ultraviolet light and beyond—in this case including X-rays. The AGN in IC 4709 is obscured by a lane of dark dust, just visible at the center of the galaxy in this image. This blocks any optical emission from the nucleus itself. Hubble’s spectacular resolution, however, gives astronomers a detailed view of the interaction between the quite small AGN and its host galaxy. This is essential to understanding supermassive black holes in galaxies much more distant than IC 4709, where resolving such fine details is not possible.
This image incorporates data from two Hubble surveys of nearby AGNs that were identified by the Swift X-ray/UV telescope, as does the image from last week. Swift will collect new data on these galaxies—with an X-ray telescope, it is possible to directly see the X-rays from IC 4709’s AGN breaking through the obscuring dust. The European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope—currently surveying the dark Universe in optical and infrared light—will also image IC 4709 and other local AGNs. The complementary use of space telescopes across the electromagnetic spectrum is key to fully researching black holes and their impact on their host galaxies.
Image Description: A spiral galaxy is situated right of center. It has a white, brightly-shining core, a glowing disc that is thick with swirling patterns of dark dust, and a faint halo around the disc. It is on a black background with small, distant galaxies and foreground stars around it. Six stars along the left side appear particularly large and bright, with two opposing sets of spikes surrounding each one.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Koss, A, Barth, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)
Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Sept. 2, 2024
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