This illustration shows the light of several distant quasars piercing the northern half of the Fermi Bubbles, an outflow of gas expelled by our Milky Way galaxy's hefty black hole. The Hubble Space Telescope probed the quasars' light for information on the speed of the gas and whether the gas is moving toward or away from Earth. Based on the material's speed, the research team estimated that the bubbles formed from an energetic event between 6 million and 9 million years ago.
The inset diagram at bottom left shows the measurement of gas moving toward and away from Earth, indicating the material is traveling at a high velocity.
Hubble also observed light from quasars that passed outside the northern bubble. The box at upper right reveals that the gas in one such quasar's light path is not moving toward or away from Earth. This gas is in the disk of the Milky Way and does not share the same characteristics as the material probed inside the bubble.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and Z. Levy (STScI)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Fermi Bubbles |
| R.A. Position | 17h 28m 19.80s |
| Dec. Position | -14° 15' 55".87 |
| Constellation | Serpens |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The science team comprises: A. Fox and R. Bordoloi (STScI), B. Savage (University of Wisconsin, Madison), F. Lockman (NRAO/GBT), E. Jenkins (Princeton University Observatory), B. Wakker (University of Wisconsin, Madison), J. Bland-Hawthorn (Institute of Astronomy/University of Sydney), S. Hernandez (STScI), T.-S. Kim (Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Italy), R. Benjamin (University of Wisconsin, Whitewater), D. Bowen (Princeton University Observatory), and J. Tumlinson (STScI). |
| Instrument | HST>COS |
| About The Image | |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
