An active lenticular galaxy in the Cygnus constellation imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope Satellite portal website sorae

This is NGC 612, a lenticular galaxy located about 400 million light-years away in the direction of the Sculptor constellation. From the side of NGC 612, we see a series of dark clouds of dust and cold hydrogen gas surrounding the bright center.

A lenticular galaxy is an intermediate type of galaxy between a spiral galaxy and an elliptical galaxy. Like spiral galaxies, they have a central bulge and disc structure, but are said to have no spiral arms characteristic of spiral galaxies. Like elliptical galaxies, typical lenticular galaxies are said to contain many old stars and little star formation activity, but according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the stars in NGC 612 are an exception, and stars that have been observed are said to be between 40 million to 100 million years ago.

This image was created based on data acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) using visible and near-infrared light filters. According to NASA, NGC 612 is known to have an active galactic nucleus (AGN) that emits powerful electromagnetic waves from a narrow region in its center. NGC 612 is a Seyfert galaxy (Seyfert type 2), which is a type of active galaxy. It is classified as.

The driving force behind active galactic nuclei is believed to be supermassive black holes. If there is a ring-shaped structure called an accretion disk consisting of falling gas as it orbits a supermassive black hole, the energy released as the gas falls will heat up the accretion disk, and from there it is thought to be observed as an active galactic nucleus because it emits electromagnetic waves of Different wavelengths.

In addition, NGC 612 is one of only five known radio galaxies (galaxies that emit strong radio waves) among lenticular galaxies, and is thought to have interacted with another spiral galaxy in the past, emitting radio waves. Presumably this is the reason. By obtaining images of NGC 612, researchers hope to better understand why this galaxy emits such powerful radio waves.

The first image was released by NASA on October 2, 2023.

source

• NASA – Hubble records a rare radio galaxy

Text Editing/Syrian Studies Department