Filaments of Active Galaxy NGC 1275
Image Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, ESA, NASA; Processing & Copyright: Domingo Pestana
Explanation: What keeps these filaments attached to this galaxy?
The filaments persist in NGC 1275 even though the turmoil of galactic collisions should destroy them. First,
active galaxy NGC 1275 is the central, dominant member of the large and relatively nearby
Perseus Cluster of Galaxies. Wild-looking at visible wavelengths, the active galaxy is also a prodigious source of
x-rays and
radio emission.
NGC 1275 accretes matter as entire galaxies fall into it, ultimately feeding a
supermassive black hole at the galaxy's core.
This composite image, recreated from
archival Hubble Space Telescope data, highlights the resulting
galactic debris and
filaments of glowing gas, some up to 20,000 light-years long.
Observations indicate that the structures, pushed out from the galaxy's center by the black hole's activity, are held together by
magnetic fields. Also known as
Perseus A,
NGC 1275 spans over 100,000 light years and lies about 230 million
light years away.
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