Home of Flickering Black Hole
This is an image of galaxy SDSS J1354+1327 (lower center) and its companion galaxy SDSS J1354+1328 (upper right). The inset panel to the right is a four-color image that combines Hubble red, green and blue filtered exposures with Chandra X-ray observations colored purple. The Hubble image shows the northern bubble of hot ionized gas in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole. The black hole appears to have blasted out jets of bright light from gas it’s accreting from thecompanion galaxy. This happened twice in the past 100,000 years. While astronomers have predicted such objects can flicker on and off as a result of gas-feeding events, this is the first time one has convincingly been caught in the act. The galaxy pair is 800 million light-years from Earth.
Credits
NASA , ESA, and J. Comerford (University of Colorado-Boulder)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | SDSS J1354+1327 |
| Object Description | Galaxy with an active black hole |
| R.A. Position | 13:54:29.08 |
| Dec. Position | +13:27:57.19 |
| Constellation | Boötes |
| Distance | About 800 million light-years (z=0.063) |
| Dimensions | Image is 37 arcseconds across (about 160,000 light-years) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The HST observations include those from programs (J. Comerford) |
| Instrument | WFC3/UVIS/IR |
| Exposure Dates | April 29, 2015 |
| Filters | F160W, F606W, F438W |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3/IR and WFC3/UVIS instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope and the ACIS instrument on the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Several filters were used to sample various wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Magenta: X-ray Blue: F438W Green: F555W Red: F160W |
| 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. |
