active galaxy tagged posts

Mystery resolved: Blackhole Feeding and Feedback at the Center of an Active Galaxy

An international research team has recently observed the Circinus galaxy, which is one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way, with high enough resolution to gain further insights into the gas flows to and from the black hole at its galactic nucleus.

An international research team led by Takuma Izumi, an assistant professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, has observed in high resolution (approximately 1 light year) the active galactic nucleus of the Circinus Galaxy — one of the closest major galaxies to the Milky Way. The observation was made possible by the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) astronomical observatory in Chile.

This breakthrough marks the world’s first quantitative measurement at this scale of gas flows and their structures o...

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An ‘Old Faithful’ Active Galaxy: Black Hole Rips Away at Star

This image of active galaxy ESO 253-3 was captured by the European Space Observatory’s Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer as part of the All-weather MUse Supernova Integral-field of Nearby Galaxies (AMUSING) survey. ESO 253-3 displays the most predictable and frequent flares scientists have yet identified in an active galaxy.
Credits: Michael Tucker (University of Hawai’i) and the AMUSING survey

During a typical year, over a million people visit Yellowstone National Park, where the Old Faithful geyser regularly blasts a jet of boiling water high in the air. Now, an international team of astronomers has discovered a cosmic equivalent, a distant galaxy that erupts roughly every 114 days.

Using data from facilities including NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and Transiting Exopla...

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Possible Extragalactic Source of High-Energy Neutrinos

Fermi LAT images showing the gamma-ray sky around the blazar PKS B1424-418. Brighter colors indicate greater numbers of gamma rays. The dashed arc marks part of the source region established by IceCube for the Big Bird neutrino (50-percent confidence level). Left: An average of LAT data centered on July 8, 2011 covering 300 days when the blazar was inactive. Right: An average of 300 active days centered on Feb. 27, 2013, when PKS B1424-418 was the brightest blazar in this part of the sky. Credit: NASA/DOE/LAT Collaboration

Fermi LAT images showing the gamma-ray sky around the blazar PKS B1424-418. Brighter colors indicate greater numbers of gamma rays. The dashed arc marks part of the source region established by IceCube for the Big Bird neutrino (50-percent confidence level). Left: An average of LAT data centered on July 8, 2011 covering 300 days when the blazar was inactive. Right: An average of 300 active days centered on Feb. 27, 2013, when PKS B1424-418 was the brightest blazar in this part of the sky. Credit: NASA/DOE/LAT Collaboration

Nearly 10 billion years ago in galaxy PKS B1424-418, a dramatic explosion occurred. Light from this blast began arriving at Earth in 2012. Now, an international team have shown that a record-breaking neutrino seen around the same time likely was born in the same event...

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