Revealing a Mini-Supermassive Black Hole

Chandra_524_1024

chandra_524 October 24th, 2012

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/George Mason Univ/N.Secrest et al; Optical: SDSS

One of the lowest mass supermassive black holes ever observed in the middle of a galaxy has been identified, thanks to NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and several other observatories. The black hole is located in the middle of the spiral galaxy NGC 4178, shown in this image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The inset shows an X-ray source at the position of the black hole, in the center of a Chandra image. An analysis of the Chandra data, along with infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and radio data from the NSF's Very Large Array suggests that the black hole has a mass less than about 200,000 times that of the sun, near the extreme low-mass end of the supermassive black hole range. The host galaxy is of a type not expected to harbor supermassive black holes, suggesting that this black hole, while related to its supermassive cousins, may have a different origin.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/ngc4178/

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

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

Image Details

Image Type
Collage
Object Name
NGC 4178
Subject - Local Universe
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Young Stellar Object
Galaxy > Component > Central Black Hole

Distance

Universescale2
55,000,000 light years
Chandra_524_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 12m 46.4s
DEC = 10° 51’ 57.5”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
10.0 x 10.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Virgo

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red SDSS (2.5m) Optical (R-band) 616.5 nm
Green SDSS (2.5m) Optical (G-band) 468.6 nm
Blue SDSS (2.5m) Optical (U-band) 355.1 nm
Purple Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 826.7 pm
Spectrum_xray1
Red
Green
Blue
Purple
Chandra_524_1280
×
ID
524
Subject Category
C.3.1.2   C.5.4.6  
Subject Name
NGC 4178
Credits
X-ray: NASA/CXC/George Mason Univ/N.Secrest et al; Optical: SDSS
Release Date
2012-10-24
Lightyears
55,000,000
Redshift
55,000,000
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/ngc4178/
Type
Collage
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
SDSS, SDSS, SDSS, Chandra
Instrument
2.5m, 2.5m, 2.5m, ACIS
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue, Purple
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, X-ray
Bandpass
R-band, G-band, U-band, X-ray
Central Wavelength
616.5, 468.6, 355.1, 0.8267
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
2000.0
Reference Value
183.19354, 10.86597
Reference Dimension
3600.0, 3600.0
Reference Pixel
1815.51190061, 1779.79934933
Scale
-4.619257e-05, 4.619257e-05
Rotation
0.03586032108
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.0 revision 213+ by the Chandra X-ray Center
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 Observatory Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
ngc4178.tif
Metadata Date
2013-09-20T09:44:40-04:00
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
55,000,000 light years

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