A close-up view of Messier 77’s active galactic nucleus

Eso_eso2203b_1024

eso_eso2203b February 16th, 2022

Credit: ESO/Jaffe, Gámez-Rosas et al.

This image, captured with the MATISSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer, shows the very inner region of the active galaxy Messier 77. Active galactic nuclei are extremely energetic sources powered by supermassive black holes. By making extraordinarily detailed observations of the active centre of this galaxy, a team of astronomers detected a thick ring of cosmic dust and gas hiding a supermassive black hole. The black dot shows the most probable position of the black hole, while the two ellipses show the extent, seen in projection, of the thick inner dust ring (dashed) and extended dust disc.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2203b/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, None, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
M 77 Messier 77
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Activity > AGN
Eso_eso2203b_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 2h 42m 40.7s
DEC = 0° 0’ 47.7”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
0.0 x 0.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Cetus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red VLTI (MATISSE) Infrared (N) 12.0 µm
Green VLTI (MATISSE) Infrared (M) 4.6 µm
Orange VLTI (MATISSE) Infrared (N) 8.5 µm
Blue VLTI (MATISSE) Infrared (L) 3.7 µm
Spectrum_ir1
Red
Green
Orange
Blue
Eso_eso2203b_1280
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ID
eso2203b
Subject Category
C.5.3.2  
Subject Name
M 77, Messier 77
Credits
ESO/Jaffe, Gámez-Rosas et al.
Release Date
2022-02-16T17:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2203b/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope Interferometer, Very Large Telescope Interferometer, Very Large Telescope Interferometer, Very Large Telescope Interferometer
Instrument
MATISSE, MATISSE, MATISSE, MATISSE
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Orange, Blue
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
N, M, N, L
Central Wavelength
12000, 4600, 8500, 3700
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
40.6695890572, -0.0132532240361
Reference Dimension
708.0, 708.0
Reference Pixel
354.0, 354.0
Scale
-2.11228117038e-07, 2.11228117038e-07
Rotation
-0
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
https://www.eso.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
None
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
eso2203b
Metadata Date
2022-02-23T13:54:38+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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