The active galaxy NGC 4945

Eso_eso0727e_1024

eso_eso0727e June 13th, 2007

Credit: ESO

K-band image obtained with NACO and the LGS of the active galaxy NGC 4945. The colour-code corresponds to intensity. Lurking in the very heart of this spiral galaxy is a supermassive black hole that is obscured at optical and infrared wavelengths, but which is one of the brightest in the local universe when observed in hard X-rays. The new LGS observations with NACO resolved the continuum in the central thousand light-years into a multitude of individual stars. The exquisite detail meant that it was possible to measure the magnitudes of the brightest of these stars. It suggests that they are red supergiant stars, which would have been born about 10 million years ago. Closer to the nucleus, the stars group into clusters, and become ever more closely packed. The huge luminosity of the central few clusters suggests that there are 10 to 100 such supergiant stars in each of these, packed into regions just a few parsecs across.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0727e/

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 Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 4945
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Activity > AGN > Seyfert

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Pseudocolor VLT (NACO) Infrared (K) -
Eso_eso0727e_1280
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ID
eso0727e
Subject Category
C.5.3.2.2  
Subject Name
NGC 4945
Credits
ESO
Release Date
2007-06-13T00:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0727e/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope
Instrument
NACO
Color Assignment
Pseudocolor
Band
Infrared
Bandpass
K
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
2358.0, 2349.0
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
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
eso0727e
Metadata Date
2009-01-20T12:21:40+01:00
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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