Tag Archives: SMBH

The centre of the galaxy NGC 5643 has been chosen as an ESO Picture of the Week

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Centre of NGC 5643 observed by ALMA and VLT. Credit: ESO/A. Alonso-Herrero et al.; ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)

This ESO Picture of the Week shows the centre of a galaxy named NGC 5643. This galaxy is located 55 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Lupus (The Wolf), and is known as a Seyfert galaxy. Seyfert galaxies have very luminous centres — thought to be powered by material being accreted onto a supermassive black hole lurking within — that can also be shrouded and obscured by clouds of dust and intergalactic material. Continue reading →

A 100 kpc nebula associated with the “Teacup” fading quasar

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HST image and GTC/OSIRIS spectra of the “Teacup” containing the Hα+[NII] lines. We highlight prominent emission line features such as the NE and SW bubbles. For further details, see Villar-Martín et al. 2017.

The “Teacup” (SDSS J143029.88+133912.0 at z=0.085) is a nearby quasar, whose nickname comes from the peculiar morphology of the extended ionized gas. It shows a loop-shaped structure reminiscent of a teacup “`handle” which extends up to ~12 kpc (~39,000 light years) NE of the active galactic nucleus. Continue reading →