APOD: M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center (2020 Mar 17)

[APOD Robot]

M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center

Explanation: What's happening in the center of nearby spiral galaxy M77? The face-on galaxy lies a mere 47 million light-years away toward the constellation of the Sea Monster (Cetus). At that estimated distance, this gorgeous island universe is about 100 thousand light-years across. Also known as NGC 1068, its compact and very bright core is well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of supermassive black holes in active Seyfert galaxies. M77 and its active core glows bright at x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and radio wavelengths. The featured sharp image of M77 was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and is dominated by the (visible) red light emitted by hydrogen. The image shows details of the spiral's winding spiral arms as traced by obscuring dust clouds, and red-tinted star forming regions close in to the galaxy's luminous core.

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[Ann]

M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center Image Credit: Hubble, NASA, ESA; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt

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ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has captured a magnificent face-on view of the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77. The image does justice to the galaxy’s beauty, showcasing its glittering arms criss-crossed with dust lanes — but it fails to betray Messier 77’s turbulent nature. Credit: ESO

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I was not too happy with today's APOD, but I really recommend the version of it posted on our esteemed Starship Asterisk* member Geck's (Geckzilla, Judy Schmidt's) flickr page. In my opinion, the picture looks much better and more impressive there.

My own favorite picture of M77 is probably ESO's version at right. The filters used for the image were 440 nm (blue), 557 nm (yellow-green), 655 nm (red) and 656 nm (H-alpha). This is a great choice of filters for an optical color picture of M77. Note that we get a good idea of the presence of H-alpha in M77 even in the ESO image.

I must say, however, that now that I have posted these two pictures next to one another, I like the APOD much better than I did. I think the wide angle view of M77 puts the APOD into perspective.

Ann

[orin stepanek]

Oh; Ann I like it a lot! As a matter of fact; I'd like to use it as a background for a day!

[TheZuke!]

Is the "bump" off to the right a satellite / dwarf galaxy?

[Ann]

Is the "bump" off to the right a satellite / dwarf galaxy?

Star formation in M77.png

You mean this bump? That's a region of star formation. You can see a few blue star clusters inside, surrounded by red gas structures. A whitish patch "below" the blue star clusters shows where brand new stars are about to break through their gaseous cocoon.

Ann

[sillyworm 2]

Going back ,through a few of the included links,I was reading about Cygnus X1.I have read about spinning black holes before.I just can't wrap my mind around an object spinning 790 times a second! How is that even possible?

[sillyworm 2]

I understand how matter surrounding a black hole can spin fast.I don't understand how the black hole itself spins 790 times a second.

[Chris Peterson]

I understand how matter surrounding a black hole can spin fast.I don't understand how the black hole itself spins 790 times a second.

Take something the size of a star that spins once every few hours, and shrink it down to a few miles across, what else can you get? The only thing that limits how fast something can rotate is it's material strength... and nothing is as materially strong as a black hole. They cannot break apart at any rotational speed.

[Bill Bruehl]

How deep is it down to the center of M77 in light years? AND do we know if the matter turned energy in that black hole explodes out of our universe? ty

[TheZuke!]

Is the "bump" off to the right a satellite / dwarf galaxy?

Star formation in M77.png

You mean this bump? That's a region of star formation. You can see a few blue star clusters inside, surrounded by red gas structures. A whitish patch "below" the blue star clusters shows where brand new stars are about to break through their gaseous cocoon.

Ann

Yes, that "bump"!
Thanks Ann.

(now if your last name was Strom... Ann(g) Strom, it would truly fit the angstrom symbol of your avatar!)

[Ann]

Is the "bump" off to the right a satellite / dwarf galaxy?

Star formation in M77.png

You mean this bump? That's a region of star formation. You can see a few blue star clusters inside, surrounded by red gas structures. A whitish patch "below" the blue star clusters shows where brand new stars are about to break through their gaseous cocoon.

Ann

Yes, that "bump"!
Thanks Ann.

(now if your last name was Strom... Ann(g) Strom, it would truly fit the angstrom symbol of your avatar!)

Click to view full size image

Ann Ström, Digital Product Manager

No, my name is not Strom (it would have been "Ström" in Swedish. And Ångstrom himself was of course really named Ångström).

The woman in the picture is really named Ann Ström. I'm nowhere near as elegant as her!!!

Ann (not Strom/Ström)