The hidden engine of NGC 4945

Eso_potw1007a_1024

eso_potw1007a February 15th, 2010

Credit: ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler and C. Thöne

Portrayed in this image is the spiral galaxy NGC 4945, a close neighbour of the Milky Way. Belonging to the Centaurus A group of galaxies, it is located at a distance of almost 13 million light-years. Showing a remarkable resemblance to our own galaxy, NGC 4945 also hides a supermassive black hole behind the thick, ring-shaped structure of dust visible in the picture. But, unlike the black hole at the centre of our Milky Way, the million-solar-mass black hole inside NGC 4945 is an Active Galactic Nucleus that is frantically consuming any surrounding matter, and so releasing tremendous amounts of energy. This image combines observations performed through three different filters (B, V, R) with the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1007a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 4945
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Galaxy > Component > Central Black Hole
Eso_potw1007a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 13h 5m 24.7s
DEC = -49° 28’ 0.3”
Orientation
North is 45.0° CW
Field of View
19.5 x 11.8 arcminutes
Constellation
Centaurus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red ESO-Danish-1.54m (None) Optical (R) -
Green ESO-Danish-1.54m (None) Optical (V) -
Blue ESO-Danish-1.54m (None) Optical (B) -
Eso_potw1007a_1280
×
ID
potw1007a
Subject Category
C.5.1.1   C.5.4.6  
Subject Name
NGC 4945
Credits
ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler and C. Thöne
Release Date
2010-02-15T11:21:24
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1007a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Distance in light years from ESO
Facility
Danish 1.54-metre telescope, Danish 1.54-metre telescope, Danish 1.54-metre telescope
Instrument
None, None, None
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
R, V, B
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
B1950
Reference Value
196.352748712, -49.4667635908
Reference Dimension
1280.0, 776.0
Reference Pixel
638.0, 390.0
Scale
-0.000254374487362, 0.000254374487362
Rotation
-45
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
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
potw1007a
Metadata Date
2010-02-11T17:16:33+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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