Archivo de imágenes de Hubble

Una fusión entre Quasar y Galaxy

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows evidence fo r a merger between a quasar and a companion galaxy. This surprising result might require theorists to rethink their explanations for the nature of quasars, the most energetic objects in the universe.The bright central objec...

Fecha
Jan 1, 1995
Misión
Hubble Space Telescope
ID de archivo
hubblesite-images-1995-04-262-image
Por

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows evidence fo r a merger between a quasar and a companion galaxy. This surprising result might require theorists to rethink their explanations for the nature of quasars, the most energetic objects in the universe.

The bright central object is the quasar itself, located several billion light-years away. The two wisps of material on the (left) of the bright central object are remnants of a bright galaxy that have been disrupted by the mutual gravitational attraction between the quasar and the companion galaxy. This provides clear evidence for a merger between the two objects.

Since their discovery in 1963, quasars (quasi-stellar objects) have been enigmatic because they emit prodigious amounts of energy from a very compact source. The most widely accepted model is that a quasar is powered by a supermassive black hole in the core of a galaxy.

These new observations proved a challenge for theorists as no current models predict the complex quasar interactions unveiled by Hubble.

The image was taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera-2.

Credits

John Bahcall, Institute for Advanced Study, NASA.

Detalles de la imagen

About The Object
Object NamePKS 2349
R.A. Position23h 51m 56.09s
Dec. Position-1° 9' 12.99"

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La imagen y el material de referencia se acreditan al archivo oficial de la misión enlazado a continuación.

Ver en NASA.gov

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