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Una vista de la galaxia elíptica gigante NGC 1600

The massive elliptical galaxy in the center of this image, taken by the Digitized Sky Survey, resides in an uncluttered region of space. A close-up view of the galaxy, called NGC 1600, is shown in the inset image, which was taken in near-infrared light by the Hubble Space Telesco...

Fecha
Jan 1, 2016
Misión
Hubble Space Telescope
ID de archivo
hubblesite-images-2016-12-3723-image
Por

The massive elliptical galaxy in the center of this image, taken by the Digitized Sky Survey, resides in an uncluttered region of space. A close-up view of the galaxy, called NGC 1600, is shown in the inset image, which was taken in near-infrared light by the Hubble Space Telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS).

At the heart of NGC 1600 lurks one of the most massive black holes ever detected. The supersized black hole, weighing 17 billion suns, resides in an unlikely place. The biggest supermassive black holes – those roughly 10 billion times the mass of our sun – have been found at the cores of very large galaxies in regions of the universe packed with other large galaxies. This black hole, however, lives in a cosmic backwater town.

Astronomers suggest that the black hole grew from repeated collisions between its home galaxy and neighboring galaxies, which funneled gas to the massive object. The black hole also may have merged with a black hole from one of the consumed galaxies. The frequent feasts may also explain why NGC 1600 has few neighbors.

NGC 1600 is located 209 million light-years from Earth. The NICMOS image was taken on Nov. 10, 1998.

Credits

NASA, ESA, and C.-P. Ma (University of California, Berkeley);
Acknowledgment: Digitized Sky Survey (DSS), STScI/AURA, Palomar/Caltech, UKSTU/AAO, and A. Quillen (University of Rochester)

Detalles de la imagen

About The Object
Object NameNGC 1600
Object DescriptionElliptical Galaxy (inset image)
R.A. Position04h 31m 39.93s
Dec. Position-5° 5' 10.5"
ConstellationEridanus
Distance209 million light-years (64 million parsecs)
About The Data
Data DescriptionThe HST data (inset image) were taken from proposal PI: A. Quillen (University of Rochester), G. Bower (CSC/STScI), and G. Rieke (Steward Observatory/University of Arizona). The science team comprises J. Thomas (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany), C.-P. Ma (University of California, Berkeley), N. McConnell (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory), J. Greene (Princeton University), J. Blakeslee (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory), and R. Janish (University of California, Berkeley).
InstrumentHST>NICMOS
Exposure DatesNovember 10, 1998, Exposure Time: 32 minutes
FiltersF160W

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