Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA. Acknowledgement: Davide de Martin.

This is the galaxy known as NGC 5548. At its heart, though not visible here, is a supermassive black hole behaving in a strange and unexpected manner. Researchers detected a clumpy gas stream flowing quickly outwards and blocking 90 percent of the X-rays emitted by the black hole. This activity could provide insights into how supermassive black holes interact with their host galaxies.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1413a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License