A Black Hole Story Told by a Cosmic Blob and Bubble

Chandra_633_1024

chandra_633 August 10th, 2016

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ETH Zurich/L.Sartori et al, Optical: NASA/STScI

New data from Chandra and other telescopes of a cosmic 'blob' and a gas bubble could be a new way to probe the past activity of a giant black hole and its effect on its host galaxy. Hanny's Voorwerp, first discovered by a citizen scientist, is a gas cloud located next to the galaxy IC 2497. Astronomers think the giant black hole in IC 2497 used to power a quasar, generating radiation that illuminated Hanny's Voorwerp. Within the last 200,000 years the quasar has faded. The Chandra data suggest that jets powered by the black hole have blown a bubble in surrounding gas.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2016/ic2497/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
IC 2497

Distance Details Distance

Universescale3
680,000,000 light years
Chandra_633_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 9h 41m 3.9s
DEC = 34° 43’ 45.3”
Orientation
North is 0.3° CCW
Field of View
0.9 x 0.9 arcminutes
Constellation
Leo Minor

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Magenta Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 826.7 pm
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Optical 160.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFC3) Optical (OIII) 437.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Optical (I-band) 814.0 nm
Spectrum_xray1
Magenta
Blue
Green
Red
Chandra_633_1280
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ID
633
Subject Category
Subject Name
IC 2497
Credits
X-ray: NASA/CXC/ETH Zurich/L.Sartori et al, Optical: NASA/STScI
Release Date
2016-08-10
Lightyears
680,000,000
Redshift
680,000,000
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2016/ic2497/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra, Hubble, Hubble, Hubble
Instrument
ACIS, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3
Color Assignment
Magenta, Blue, Green, Red
Band
X-ray, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
X-ray, -, OIII, I-band
Central Wavelength
0.8267, 160, 437, 814
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
145.2661977, 34.7292506
Reference Dimension
3600.0, 3600.0
Reference Pixel
1801.0, 1801.0
Scale
3.98996e-06, 3.989963e-06
Rotation
0.31
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
WCS retrieved using CXCs PinpointWCS
Creator (Curator)
Chandra X-ray Observatory
URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu
Name
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Email
cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
Telephone
617.496.7941
Address
60 Garden St.
City
Cambridge
State/Province
MA
Postal Code
02138
Country
USA
Rights
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Publisher
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
ic2497.tif
Resource URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2016/ic2497/ic2497.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2016-08-10T16:15:51-04:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
680,000,000 light years

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