Lenticular Galaxy NGC 5084 (with 'sideways' black hole) | Schulman Telescope

Lenticular Galaxy NGC 5084 (with 'sideways' black hole) | Schulman Telescope

NGC 5084 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation of Virgo. It is located at a distance of about 80 million light years from Earth. Given its apparent dimensions, this means that NGC 5084 is at least 200,000 light years across. It is one of the largest and most massive galaxies in the Virgo Supercluster.

NASA researchers have discovered a perplexing case of a black hole that appears to be “tipped over,” rotating in an unexpected direction relative to the galaxy surrounding it. The galaxy NGC 5084 has been known for years, but the sideways secret of its central black hole lay hidden in old data archives. The discovery was made possible by new image analysis techniques developed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley to take a fresh look at archival data from the agency’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Using the new methods, astronomers at Ames unexpectedly found four long plumes of plasma—hot, charged gas—emanating from NGC 5084. One pair of plumes extends above and below the plane of the galaxy. A surprising second pair, forming an “X” shape with the first, lies in the galaxy plane itself. Hot gas plumes are not often spotted in galaxies, and typically only one or two are present.

Credit Line & Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
Image Date: May 1, 2015

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #NASAChandra #Galaxies #BlackHole #Galaxy #NGC5084 #LenticularGalaxy #VirgoSupercluster #Virgo #Constellation #Universe #SchulmanTelescope #MountLemmon #MLO #Astrophotography #AdamBlock #UA #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video