Why galaxy M77’s active nucleus is hiding. New, highly detailed images show a supermassive black hole cloaked inside a doughnut of dust — exactly as expected. By Alison Klesman | Published ...
M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center. Image Credit: Hubble , NASA , ESA ; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt. Explanation: What's happening in the center of nearby spiral galaxy M77? The face-on galaxy lies a mere 47 million light-years away toward the constellation of the Sea Monster ( Cetus ).
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this vivid image of spiral galaxy Messier 77 — a galaxy in the constellation of Cetus, some 45 million light-years away from us. The streaks of red and blue in the image highlight pockets of star formation along the pinwheeling arms, with dark dust lanes stretching across the galaxy’s starry centre.
The Magnetic Fields of Spiral Galaxy M77 Image Credit: NASA, SOFIA, HAWC+; JPL-Caltech, Roma Tre. U.; ESA, Hubble, NuSTAR, SDSS. Explanation: Can magnetic fields help tell us how spiral galaxies form and evolve? To find out, the HAWC+ instrument on NASA's airborne SOFIA observatory observed nearby spiral galaxy M77.
Also known as NGC 1068, its compact and very bright core is well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of supermassive black holes in active Seyfert galaxies . M77 is also seen at x-ray, ultraviolet, infrared, and radio wavelengths.
Don your binoculars for a night of star gazing and you might be able to spot the seemingly innocuous spiral galaxy Messier 77 (M77), a bright but dusty mass of stars that sits 47 million light-years from Earth. Hidden under this dust is a supermassive black hole that is powering intense radiation from the surrounding gas.
M77 is an active galaxy with an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) and is the brightest Seyfert galaxy. According to , the distance of M77 is 46.9 million light years and its diameter is 100,000 light years. Its estimated mass is 1000 billion solar masses. For more information, see the as well as specific entries for M77 in and .