chandra_794b January 11th, 2023
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/D. Kim et al.; Optical/IR: Legacy Surveys/D. Lang (Perimeter Institute)
A survey has revealed hundreds of previously unidentified black holes using data from the Chandra Source Catalog and the Sloan Digitized Sky Survey (SDSS). Researchers compared the X-ray and optical data for a class of objects known as "XBONGs" (X-ray bright, optically normal galaxies) to reveal about 400 supermassive black holes. This four-panel graphic shows two of these XBONGs in X-rays from Chandra and optical light from SDSS. This result helps explain some unusual properties of XBONGs as well as provide a more accurate census of supermassive black holes that exist in the centers of most large galaxies.
Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2023/xbongs/
Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA
Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
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