Hubble image archive
Runaway Black Hole Near RCP28
This Hubble Space Telescope archival photo 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 superm...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2023
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2023-010-01gwq1f36y4jk6y4k8awmz86af
This Hubble Space Telescope archival photo 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)
Image Details
| 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 (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. |
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
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