NGC 4696: Filaments around a Black Hole
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, A. Fabian
Explanation: What's happening at the center of elliptical galaxy NGC 4696? There, long tendrils of gas and dust have been imaged in great detail as shown by this
recently released image from the
Hubble Space Telescope. These filaments appear to connect to the
central region of the galaxy, a region thought occupied by a
supermassive black hole.
Speculation holds that this black hole pumps out energy that heats surrounding gas, pushes out cooler filaments of gas and
dust, and shuts down
star formation. Balanced by
magnetic fields, these filaments then appear to
spiral back in toward and eventually circle the central
black hole.
NGC 4696 is the largest galaxy in the
Centaurus Cluster of Galaxies, located about 150 million light years
from Earth. The
featured image shows a region about 45,000 light years across.
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