NASA's Chandra Detects Record-Breaking Outburst from Milky Way's Black Hole

Chandra_588_1024

chandra_588 January 5th, 2015

Credit: NASA/CXC/Amherst College/D.Haggard et al

Astronomers have detected the largest X-ray flare ever from the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This event was 400 times brighter than the usual X-ray output from Sgr A*. The main portion of this graphic shows the area around Sgr A* in a Chandra image where low, medium, and high-energy X-rays are red, green, and blue respectively. The inset box contains an X-ray movie of the region close to Sgr A* and shows the giant flare, along with much steadier X-ray emission from a nearby magnetar, to the lower left. A magnetar is a neutron star with a strong magnetic field.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2015/sgra/

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
Sagittarius A*
Subject - Milky Way
Galaxy > Component > Central Black Hole

Distance

Universescale1
26,000 light years
Chandra_588_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 17h 45m 40.0s
DEC = -29° 0’ 27.7”
Orientation
North is 0.1° CCW
Field of View
8.2 x 8.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Sagittarius

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (Soft X-ray) 470.0 pm
Green Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (Medium X-ray) 310.0 pm
Blue Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (Hard X-ray) 200.0 pm
Spectrum_xray1
Red
Green
Blue
Chandra_588_1280
×
ID
588
Subject Category
B.5.4.6  
Subject Name
Sagittarius A*
Credits
NASA/CXC/Amherst College/D.Haggard et al
Release Date
2015-01-05
Lightyears
26,000
Redshift
26,000
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2015/sgra/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra, Chandra, Chandra
Instrument
ACIS, ACIS, ACIS
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
X-ray, X-ray, X-ray
Bandpass
Soft X-ray, Medium X-ray, Hard X-ray
Central Wavelength
0.47, 0.31, 0.2
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
266.4168387, -29.0076993
Reference Dimension
3600.0, 3600.0
Reference Pixel
1801.0, 1801.0
Scale
3.79049e-05, 3.7904921e-05
Rotation
0.06
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 Observatory Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
sgra.tif
Metadata Date
2015-01-05T14:18:15-05:00
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
26,000 light years

Providers | Sign In