* Astronomy

Members Login

Post Info

TOPIC: 4C+00.58

Blobrana

L

Posts: 131433

Date: Jul 26 09:04 2010

4C +00.58	Permalink

Astronomers say they may finally understand the behavior of an oddball galaxy: It was flipped around twice by a collision with a smaller galaxy. The theory, if it proves correct, could help scientists identify more such collisions throughout the universe - and those collisions might, in turn, help test the validity of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. The astronomers were studying a black hole at the center of an X-shaped radio galaxy (one that shines bright at radio wavelengths) called 4C +00.58 that lies about 780 million light years away from Earth. Read more __________________

Blobrana

L

Posts: 131433

Date: Jul 21 19:52 2010

4C+00.58	Permalink

This image shows the effects of a giant black hole that has been flipped around twice, causing its spin axis to point in a different direction from before. The large optical image, from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, is centered on a radio galaxy named 4C +00.58. The smaller image to the right shows a close-up view of this galaxy in X-rays (in gold) from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and radio waves (in blue) from the Very Large Array. At the center of 4C +00.58 is a supermassive black hole that is actively pulling in large quantities of gas. Gas swirling toward the black hole forms a disk around the black hole, generating strong electromagnetic forces that propel some of the gas away from the disk at high speed, producing radio jets. Read more __________________

Page 1 of 1 sorted by

Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse