A supermassive black hole masked by a cloud of cosmic dust was found at the centre of an active galaxy in new images from the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The galaxy, known as Messier 77 or NGC 1068, is a barred spiral galaxy located about 47 million light years from Earth in the constellation of Cetus. Taken by the ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in northern Chile, the observations shed new light on galaxies that have active galactic nuclei (AGN) at their core. These bright features are fuelled by all the gas and dust that falls into the galaxy's central black hole, causing the area to outshine the rest of the galaxy.
"Our results should lead to a better understanding of the inner workings of AGN," said Violeta Gámez Rosas from Leiden University in The Netherlands. “They could also help us better understand the history of the Milky Way. which harbours a supermassive black hole at its centre that may have been active in the past."
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Denne historien er fra Issue 128-utgaven av All About Space.
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