Using images from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have studied the effect of an active black hole on the formation of stars in the spiral galaxy NGC 7582.
This images from the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 7582. Image credit: ESO / Juneau et al.
NGC 7582 was discovered on July 7, 1826 by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop.
The galaxy is located about 70 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Grus.
Otherwise known as ESO 291-16 , INTREF 1104 and LEDA 71001, it has a diameter of about 100,000 light-years.
NGC 7582 is also classified as a Seyfert 2 galaxy, a type of active galaxy.
It hosts an active galactic nucleus powered by a 55-million-solar-mass black hole gobbling up material in its immediate surroundings.
“Matter heats up in this process, launching huge amounts of energy and powerful winds into the surrounding area,” said NSF’s NOIRLab astronomer Stéphanie Juneau and her colleagues.
“But what effect does this have on the galaxy at large?”
This MUSE image shows a more classical view of NGC 7582. Image credit: ESO / Juneau et al.
To find out, the astronomers looked at the distribution of different ionized elements in NGC 7582.
“The first image shows oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen in blue, green and red, respectively,” they said.
“The red glowing areas are regions of high star formation activity, whereas the dominant blue regions show the cone-shaped material flowing out of the active galactic nucleus.”
“The second image, which covers the same area, shows a more classical view of NGC 7582, with dust lanes obscuring blue and orange starlight,” they added.
The MUSE images also allowed the team to map the motion of the stars and gas and reveal a circumnuclear ring of stars and dusty, gas-rich material.
“We discovered that NGC 7582 may have a structure surrounding its central supermassive black hole that shields the rest of the galaxy from the harsh outflow of energy coming from the AGN, diverting it away from it in the form of an extremely powerful wind,” the researchers said.
Their results were published in the Astrophysical Journal.
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Stéphanie Juneau et al. 2022. The Black Hole-Galaxy Connection: Interplay between Feedback, Obscuration, and Host Galaxy Substructure. ApJ 925, 203; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac425f
Source link: https://www.sci.news/astronomy/active-black-hole-galaxy-connection-10533.html
