This new NASA Hubble Space
Telescope image of IC 4271, also known as Arp 40, is a curious pair of spiral
galaxies some 800 million light-years away. The smaller galaxy is superimposed
on the larger one, which is a type of active galaxy called a Seyfert galaxy.
Seyfert galaxies are named for
astronomer Carl K. Seyfert who, in 1943, published a paper about spiral
galaxies with very bright
emission lines. Today we know that about 10% of all galaxies may be Seyfert
galaxies. They belong to the class of “active galaxies” – galaxies that have
supermassive black holes at their centers accreting material, which releases
vast amounts of radiation. The active cores of Seyfert galaxies are at their
brightest when observed in light outside the visible spectrum. The larger
galaxy in this pair is a Type II Seyfert galaxy, which means it is a very
bright source of infrared and visible light.
The image uses data collected during
Hubble observations designed to study the role of dust in shaping the energy
distributions of low mass disk galaxies. The Hubble observations looked at six
pairs of galaxies where one was in front of the other. The broad range of light
that Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 is sensitive to, along with its resolution,
allowed the researchers to map the foreground galaxy’s dust disk in fine detail
across ultra-violet, visible, and infrared light. Because IC 4271 is a Type II
Seyfert Galaxy, visible and infrared wavelengths of light dominate the image.
The colors in this image are primarily visible light, while the color violet
represents ultraviolet light and red represents near infrared light.
Image
Credit: NASA, ESA, and B. Holwerda (University of Louisville Research
Foundation, Inc.); Image processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University
of America)
Source: NASA
Source: Hubble
Captures a Peculiar Pair – Scents of Science (myfusimotors.com)
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