CXC: The Arrhythmic Beating of a Black Hole Heart

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CXC: The Arrhythmic Beating of a Black Hole Heart

Post by bystander » Wed Apr 19, 2017 3:25 pm

NGC 4696: The Arrhythmic Beating of a Black Hole Heart
NASA | MSFC | SAO | Chandra X-ray Observatory | 2017 Apr 19
[img3="Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MPE/J.Sanders et al.;
Optical: NASA/STScI; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA
"]http://chandra.si.edu/photo/2017/ngc4696/ngc4696.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]
At the center of the Centaurus galaxy cluster, there is a large elliptical galaxy called NGC 4696. Deeper still, there is a supermassive black hole buried within the core of this galaxy.

New data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes has revealed details about this giant black hole, located some 145 million light years from Earth. Although the black hole itself is undetected, astronomers are learning about the impact it has on the galaxy it inhabits and the larger cluster around it.

In some ways, this black hole resembles a beating heart that pumps blood outward into the body via the arteries. Likewise, a black hole can inject material and energy into its host galaxy and beyond. ...

This composite image contains X-ray data from Chandra (red) that reveals the hot gas in the cluster, and radio data from the NSF's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (blue) that shows high-energy particles produced by the black hole-powered jets. Visible light data from the Hubble Space Telescope (green) show galaxies in the cluster as well as galaxies and stars outside the cluster. ...

A very deep Chandra view of metals, sloshing and feedback in the Centaurus cluster of galaxies - J. S. Sanders et al
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