The Hubble team has released a striking new image of the center of NGC 5643, a spectacularly designed spiral galaxy in the constellation Lupus.
This Hubble image shows NGC 5643, the Grand Design Spiral in the constellation Lupus, about 55 million light-years away. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Riess / D. Thilker / D. De Martin, ESA & Hubble / M. Zamani, ESA & Hubble.
NGC5643 It is located approximately 55 million light years away in the constellation Lupus.
The planet, also known as ESO 272-16 and LEDA 51969, was discovered by James Dunlop on May 10, 1826.
NGC 5643 is classified as a Grand Design Spiral due to its prominent and graceful spiral arm.
It is approximately 100,000 light-years in diameter and contains an active galactic nucleus of type Seyfert 2.
“NGC 5643 is what is known as a Grand Design Spiral, which refers to how the galaxy's two large, sinuous spiral arms are clearly visible,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“The spiral arms are defined by bright blue stars, lacy reddish-brown dust clouds, and pink star-forming regions.”
“As fascinating as the galaxy is at visible wavelengths, some of NGC 5643's most interesting features are invisible to the human eye.”
New images of NGC 5643 consist of observations from. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 Found in the ultraviolet, infrared, and optical portions of the spectrum.
Nine filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
“The ultraviolet images, X-ray images, and spectra of NGC 5643 show that this galaxy has an active galactic nucleus, a particularly bright galactic nucleus driven by a feast of supermassive black holes,” the astronomers said. said.
“When a supermassive black hole takes in gas from its surroundings, it collects in a disk and heats it up to hundreds of thousands of degrees.”
“Superheated gases glow brightly across the electromagnetic spectrum, but especially at X-ray wavelengths.”
“However, NGC 5643's active galactic nucleus is not the brightest X-ray source in the galaxy,” the researchers added.
“Researchers using ESA's XMM Newton discovered an even brighter X-ray emitting object called NGC 5643 X-1 on the outskirts of the galaxy.”
“What source of X-rays is more powerful than a supermassive black hole? Surprisingly, the answer appears to be a much smaller black hole.”
“The exact identity of NGC 5643 X-1 is not yet known, but evidence points to it being a black hole with about 30 times the mass of the Sun.”
“A black hole trapped in an orbital dance with a companion star captures gas from the companion star, creating a superheated disk above the center of the galaxy.”
Hubble astronomers previously released images of NGC 5643 in 2020.
Source: www.sci.news
