Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have taken a beautiful picture of the luminous spiral galaxy Z 229-15, which is found in the constellation of Lyra.
Z 229-15 is located approximately 390 million light-years away in the constellation of Lyra.
Also known as LEDA 62756 or 2MASS J19052593+4227397, it is a spiral galaxy with two almost-straight arms.
Z 229-15 contains a quasar and hosts an active galactic nucleus (AGN), and is also classified as a Seyfert 1 galaxy.
“Z 229-15 is one of those interesting celestial objects that, should you choose to research it, you will find defined as several different things: sometimes as an AGN; sometimes as a quasar; and sometimes as a Seyfert galaxy,” Hubble astronomers said.
“The extra luminosity is due to the presence of a supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s core.”
“Material sucked into a black hole actually doesn’t fall directly into it, but instead is drawn into a swirling disk, from where it is inexorably tugged towards the black hole.”
“This disk of matter gets so hot that it releases a large amount of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, and that’s what makes AGNs appear so bright.”
“Quasars are a particular type of AGN,” the researchers explained.
“They are typically both extremely bright and extremely distant from Earth — several hundred million light-years is considered nearby for a quasar, making Z 229-15 positively local.”
“Often an AGN is so bright that the rest of the galaxy cannot be seen, but Seyfert galaxies are active galaxies that host very bright AGNs while the rest of the galaxy is still observable.”
This new image of Z 229-15 is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the ultraviolet, near-infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum.
It is based on data obtained through three filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated…
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