NASA's Chandra Finds Nearest Pair of Supermassive Black Holes

Chandra_489_1024

chandra_489 August 31st, 2011

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/G.Fabbiano et al; Optical: NASA/STScI

Evidence for a pair of supermassive black holes in a spiral

galaxy has been found in data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

This main image is a composite of X-rays from Chandra (blue) and optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (orange and yellow) of the spiral galaxy NGC 3393. Meanwhile, the inset box shows the central region of NGC 3993 as observed just by Chandra. Two separate peaks of X-ray emission (roughly at 11 o'clock and 4 o'clock) can clearly be seen in the inset box. These two sources are black holes that are actively growing, generating X-ray emission as gas falls towards the black holes and becomes hotter.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/n3393/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 3393
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Galaxy > Component > Central Black Hole

Distance

Universescale3
160,000,000 light years
Chandra_489_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 10h 48m 23.5s
DEC = -25° 9’ 43.0”
Orientation
North is 0.9° CW
Field of View
0.2 x 0.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Hydra

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Yellow Hubble (WFPC) Optical (Wide-V) 606.0 nm
Blue Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 826.7 pm
Spectrum_xray1
Yellow
Blue
Chandra_489_1280
×
ID
489
Subject Category
C.5.1.1   C.5.4.6  
Subject Name
NGC 3393
Credits
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/G.Fabbiano et al; Optical: NASA/STScI
Release Date
2011-08-31
Lightyears
160,000,000
Redshift
160,000,000
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/n3393/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble, Chandra
Instrument
WFPC, ACIS
Color Assignment
Yellow, Blue
Band
Optical, X-ray
Bandpass
Wide-V, X-ray
Central Wavelength
606, 0.8267
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
162.0977084, -25.1619389
Reference Dimension
3600.0, 3600.0
Reference Pixel
1801.0, 1801.0
Scale
9.77799e-07, 9.7779913e-07
Rotation
-0.90
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
WCS retrieved using CXCs PinpointWCS
Creator (Curator)
Chandra X-ray Observatory
URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu
Name
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Email
cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
Telephone
617.496.7941
Address
60 Garden St.
City
Cambridge
State/Province
MA
Postal Code
02138
Country
USA
Rights
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Publisher
Chandra X-ray Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
n3393.tif
Metadata Date
2012-08-22T16:02:33-04:00
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
160,000,000 light years

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