Arp 299: Black Holes in Colliding Galaxies
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, GSFC, Hubble, NuSTAR
Explanation: Is only one black hole spewing high energy radiation -- or two? To
help find out, astronomers trained
NASA's Earth-orbiting
NuSTAR and
Chandra telescopes on
Arp 299, the enigmatic colliding galaxies expelling the radiation. The two galaxies of
Arp 299 have been locked in a
gravitational combat for millions of years, while their central black holes will soon
do battle themselves.
Featured, the high-resolution visible-light image was taken by
Hubble, while the superposed diffuse glow of
X-ray light was imaged by NuSTAR and shown in false-color red, green, and blue.
NuSTAR observations show that only one of the
central black holes is seen fighting its way through a region of gas and dust -- and so absorbing matter and emitting X-rays. The energetic radiation, coming only from the galaxy center on the right, is surely
created nearby -- but
outside -- the central
black hole's
event horizon. In a billion years or so, only one
composite galaxy will remain, and only one
central supermassive black hole. Soon thereafter, though, another galaxy may enter the fray.
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