This compass image shows a Hubble Space Telescope archival photo which captures a curious linear feature that is so unusual it was first dismissed as an imaging artifact from Hubble’s cameras. But follow-up spectroscopic observations reveal it is a 200,000-light-year-long chain of young blue stars. A supermassive black hole lies at the tip of the bridge at lower left. The black hole was ejected from the galaxy at upper right. It compressed gas in its wake to leave a long trail of young blue stars. Nothing like this has ever been seen before in the universe. This unusual event happened when the universe was approximately half its current age.
Credits
Science
NASA, ESA, Pieter van Dokkum (Yale)
Image Processing
Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | RCP28 |
| Object Description | Runaway supermassive black hole |
| R.A. Position | 40:25:51.30 |
| Dec. Position | -08:20:46.26 |
| Constellation | Ophiuchus |
| Distance | 7.669 billion light years (z=0.964) |
| Dimensions | Image is about 2.4 arcmin across (about 1.4 million light-years) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The HST observations include those from program 16912 (P. van Dokkum) |
| Instrument | ACS |
| Exposure Dates | September 5, 2022 |
| Filters | F606W, F814W |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Two filters were used to sample wide 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: Cyan: F606W, Orange: 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. |
