This Hubble Space Telescope image of the heart of nearby active galaxy IC 5063 reveals a mixture of bright rays and dark shadows coming from the blazing core, home of a supermassive black hole.
Astronomers suggest that a ring of dusty material surrounding the black hole may be casting its shadow into space.
According to their scenario, this interplay of light and shadow may occur when light blasted by the monster black hole strikes the dust ring, which is buried deep inside the core. Light streams through gaps in the ring, creating the brilliant cone-shaped rays. However, denser patches in the disk block some of the light, casting long, dark shadows through the galaxy.
This phenomenon is similar to sunlight piercing our Earthly clouds at sunset, creating a mixture of bright rays and dark shadows formed by beams of light scattered by the atmosphere.
However, the bright rays and dark shadows appearing in IC 5063 are happening on a vastly larger scale, shooting across at least 36,000 light-years.
IC 5063 resides 156 million light-years from Earth.
The observations were taken on March 7 and Nov. 25, 2019 by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Credits
NASA, ESA, STScI and W.P. Maksym (CfA)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | IC 5063 |
| Object Description | Seyfert galaxy |
| R.A. Position | 20:52:02.34 |
| Dec. Position | -57:04:07.61 |
| Constellation | Pavo |
| Distance | Approximately 160 million light-years |
| Dimensions | Image is approximately 1.2 arcminutes across (54,000 light-years) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The HST observations include those from programs (G. Fabbiano) and (A. Barth) |
| Instrument | ACS/WFC & WFC3/UVIS |
| Exposure Dates | 11 November 2019 and 7 March 2019 |
| Filters | F673N, F763M, F814W |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3/UVIS and ACS instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample specific 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: Blue: F673N Green: 763M Red: F814W |
| 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. |
