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Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby,
Mark Hanson
Explanation:
Spiral galaxy NGC
1097
shines in southern skies, about
45 million light-years away in the heated constellation
Fornax.
Its blue spiral arms are mottled with pinkish star forming regions in
this colorful galaxy
portrait.
They seem to have wrapped around a small companion galaxy above and
right of center, about 40,000 light-years from the spiral's luminous core.
That's not NGC 1097's only peculiar feature, though.
This very deep exposure hints of faint,
mysterious jets, seen to extend well beyond the bluish arms.
In fact, four faint jets are ultimately
recognized
in optical images of NGC 1097.
The jets
trace an X centered on the galaxy's nucleus, but probably don't
originate there.
Instead, they could be fossil star streams,
trails left over from the
capture and disruption of a much smaller galaxy in the
large spiral's ancient past.
A Seyfert
galaxy, NGC 1097's nucleus also harbors a
supermassive black hole.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: spiral galaxy - Seyfert galaxy
Publications with words: spiral galaxy - Seyfert galaxy
See also:
- APOD: 2025 September 4 Á NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge
- APOD: 2025 August 28 Á Galaxies, Stars, and Dust
- APOD: 2025 August 22 Á A Tale of Two Nebulae
- APOD: 2025 August 19 Á Giant Galaxies in Pavo
- APOD: 2025 August 18 Á NGC 1309: A Useful Spiral Galaxy
- APOD: 2025 July 4 Á NGC 6946 and NGC 6939
- APOD: 2025 June 30 Á NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy