Example of a jellyfish galaxy

Eso_eso1725d_1024

eso_eso1725d August 16th, 2017

Credit: ESO/GASP collaboration

Observations of “Jellyfish galaxies” with ESO’s Very Large Telescope have revealed a previously unknown way to fuel supermassive black holes. It seems the mechanism that produces the tentacles of gas and newborn stars that give these galaxies their nickname also makes it possible for the gas to reach the central regions of the galaxies, feeding the black hole that lurks in each of them and causing it to shine brilliantly.This picture of one of the galaxies, nicknamed JW206, from the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, shows clearly how material is streaming out of the galaxy in long tendrils. Red shows the glow from ionised hydrogen gas and the whiter regions are where most of the stars in the galaxy are located.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1725d/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
JW206
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy
Eso_eso1725d_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 21h 13m 45.5s
DEC = 2° 28’ 34.5”
Orientation
North is 0.1° CW
Field of View
2.0 x 1.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Aquarius

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red VLT (MUSE) Optical (H-alpha) 656.0 nm
Green VLT (MUSE) Optical (Continuum) 634.0 nm
Blue VLT (MUSE) Optical (OIII) 500.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Eso_eso1725d_1280
×
ID
eso1725d
Subject Category
C.5  
Subject Name
JW206
Credits
ESO/GASP collaboration
Release Date
2017-08-16T19:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1725d/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
MUSE, MUSE, MUSE
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
H-alpha, Continuum, OIII
Central Wavelength
656, 634, 500
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
318.439479675, 2.47624902014
Reference Dimension
1204.0, 610.0
Reference Pixel
602.0, 305.0
Scale
-2.77653612374e-05, 2.77653612374e-05
Rotation
-0.05999999999999997
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
eso1725d
Resource URL
https://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/original/eso1725d.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2017-08-14T10:47:17+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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NASA’s Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The award is part of NASA’s Science Activation program, which strives to further enable NASA science experts and content into the learning environment more effectively and efficiently with learners of all ages.