Fireworks near galaxy NGC 4151
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) simultaneously records, in unprecedented detail, the velocities of hundreds of gas knots streaming at hundreds of thousands of miles (or kilometres) per hour from the nucleus of NGC 4151, thought to house a supermassive black hole.
This is the first time the velocity structure in the heart of this object, or similar objects, has been mapped so vividly this close to its central black hole.
Credit:About the Image
About the Object
| Name: | IRAS 12080+3941, NGC 4151 |
|---|---|
| Type: | Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral Local Universe : Galaxy : Activity : AGN : Seyfert |
| Distance: | 40 million light years |
| Category: | Cosmology Quasars and Black Holes |
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
|---|---|---|
| Optical OIII | 500 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |
| Optical V | 495 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
STIS |
| Optical V | 500 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
STIS |