Magnetic monster NGC 1275

Esahubble_heic0817a_1024

esahubble_heic0817a August 20th, 2008

Credit: NASA, ESA and Andy Fabian (University of Cambridge, UK)

This stunning image of NGC 1275 was taken using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys in July and August 2006. It provides amazing detail and resolution of the fragile filamentary structures, which show up as a reddish lacy structure surrounding the central bright galaxy NGC 1275. These filaments are cool despite being surrounded by gas that is around 55 million degrees Celsius hot. They are suspended in a magnetic field which maintains their structure and demonstrates how energy from the central black hole is transferred to the surrounding gas. By observing the filamentary structure, astronomers were, for the first time, able to estimate the magnetic field's strength. Using this information they demonstrated how the extragalactic magnetic fields have maintained the structure of the filaments against collapse caused by either gravitational forces or the violence of the surrounding cluster during their 100-million-year lifetime. This is the first time astronomers have been able to differentiate the individual threads making up such filaments to this degree. Astonishingly, they distinguished threads a mere 200 light-years across. By contrast, the filaments seen here can be a gaping 200 000 light-years long. The entire image is approximately 260 000 light-years across. Also seen in the image are impressive lanes of dust from a separate spiral galaxy. It lies partly in front of the giant elliptical central cluster galaxy and has been completed disrupted by the tidal gravitational forces within the galaxy cluster. Several striking filaments of blue newborn stars are seen crossing the image.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0817a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 1275
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Activity > AGN > Seyfert
Esahubble_heic0817a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 3h 19m 48.4s
DEC = 41° 30’ 41.0”
Orientation
North is 8.5° CCW
Field of View
3.9 x 3.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Perseus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (ACS) Optical (R) 625.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 550.0 nm
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (B) 435.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Esahubble_heic0817a_1280
×
ID
heic0817a
Subject Category
C.5.3.2.2  
Subject Name
NGC 1275
Credits
NASA, ESA and Andy Fabian (University of Cambridge, UK)
Release Date
2008-08-20T19:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0817a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Distance in light years from NED
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
R, V, B
Central Wavelength
625, 550, 435
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
49.9516191, 41.5113889
Reference Dimension
4633.0, 3590.0
Reference Pixel
2317.5, 1796.0
Scale
-1.38684e-05, 1.3868438e-05
Rotation
8.500
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Data is calculated based on Simbad coordinates! Using this image as an overlay on a DSS background, a 5 arcsec (or so) difference is expected to be seen!
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.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
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
heic0817a
Metadata Date
2008-08-19T10:59:41+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In