NASA shock: Hubble telescope reveals a 'behemoth' black hole spewing radiation into space
NASA’S Hubble Space Telescope snapped this spectacular picture of a spiral galaxy where a “behemoth” black hole is spewing intense radiation out into space.
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The NASA picture was shot from an incredible distance of about 130 million light-years from Earth. The Hubble picture features the “moderately” bright galaxy ESO 021-G004.
Much like our Milky Way galaxy, ESO 021-G004 is a spiral disc of stellar material coiling around a central black hole.
In this case, Hubble’s astronomers estimate a supermassive black hole hundreds of thousands to millions of times heavier than our Sun rests at ESO 021-G004's heart.
Supermassive black holes are the biggest known type of black hole and together with stellar-mass black holes are the most common type seen in the cosmos.
And thanks to the galaxy’s black hole, astronomers consider ESO 021-G004 to have an active nucleus.
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An active galactic nucleus is a densely packed region of space at the heart of a galaxy that is considerably brighter than the rest of the galaxy.
The active nucleus is also a sign of stellar material such as gasses and dust being consumed by the black hole.
When the material falls towards the gravitational abyss, some of it ends up in a hot, spinning disc around the black hole.
The hot ring of material then releases radiation out into space, allowing astronomers to hone-in on the otherwise invisible black hole.
You can see from Hubble’s picture, the centre of the galaxy is much brighter than its darker swirls of stellar gas.
Surrounding the galaxy, you can also make out a starlit field of distant, diamond-like stars.
This radiation is generated by material falling inward into the very central region
At 130 million light-years, the picture was taken from about 764,221,300,000,000,000,000 miles from Earth.
Hubble’s astronomers from the European Space Agency (ESA) said: “This swirling mass of celestial gas, dust and stars is a moderately luminous spiral galaxy named ESO 021-G004, located just under 130 million light-years away.
“This galaxy has something known as an active galactic nucleus.
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“While this phrase sounds complex, this simply means that astronomers measure a lot of radiation at all wavelengths coming from the centre of the galaxy.
“This radiation is generated by material falling inward into the very central region of ESO 021-G004, and meeting the behemoth lurking there – a supermassive black hole.
“As material falls toward this black hole it is dragged into orbit as part of an accretion disk; it becomes superheated as it swirls around and around, emitting characteristic high-energy radiation until it is eventually devoured.
“The data comprising this image were gathered by the Wide Field Camera 3 aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.”
Quick facts about the Hubble Space Telescope:
1. The Hubble Space Telescope transmits 150 gigabits of raw data every single week.
2. Thanks to Hubble, astronomers have gazed at objects 13.4 billion light-years away.
3. Hubble is powered by the Sun and boasts six batteries with the power storage capacity of 22 car.
4. The telescope races around the Earth at speeds of more than 17,000mph.
5. Hubble launched into space on April 24, 1990.