Hubble Probes the Black Hole Inside a Majestic Spiral Galaxy
The graceful, winding arms of the majestic spiral galaxy NGC 3147 appear like a grand spiral staircase sweeping through space in this Hubble Space Telescope image. They are actually long lanes of young blue stars, pinkish nebulas, and dust in silhouette.
The beauty of the galaxy belies the fact that at its very center is a malnourished black hole surrounded by a thin, compact disk of stars, gas, and dust that have been caught up in a gravitational maelstrom. The black hole's gravity is so intense that anything that ventures near it gets swept up in the disk.
The disk is so deeply embedded in the black hole's intense gravitational field that the light from the gas disk is modified, according to Einstein's theories of relativity, giving astronomers a unique peek at the dynamic processes close to a black hole.
NGC 3147 is located 130 million light-years away in the northern circumpolar constellation Draco the Dragon.
Credits
NASA, ESA, S. Bianchi (Università degli Studi Roma Tre University), A. Laor (Technion-Israel Institute of Technology), and M. Chiaberge (ESA, STScI, and JHU)About The Object | |
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Object Name | NGC 3147 |
Object Description | Spiral Galaxy |
R.A. Position | 10:16:53.6 |
Dec. Position | +73:24:02 |
Constellation | Draco |
Distance | 130 million light-years |
Dimensions | Image is 2.2 arcmin across (about 83,000 light-years) |
About The Data | |
Data Description | The HST observations include those from programs (A. Riess) |
Instrument | WFC3/UVIS; WFC3/IR |
Exposure Dates | Oct 2017 - Mar 2018 |
Filters | F555W, F814W, F160W |
About The Image | |
Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample narrow 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: F555W Green: F814W Red: F160W |
Compass Image |
About The Object | |
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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 |
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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. |