Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Cetus (Cet)  ·  Contains:  M 77  ·  NGC 1068
M77, Colin McGill
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M77

M77, Colin McGill
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M77

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Description

Spiral Seyfert galaxy in Cetus. This is very hard to image for me - it only just gets above my horizon, so this is imaged over many nights with varying seeing.

Seyfert galaxies emit large amounts of radiation - now recognised as being an active galactic nucleus, or quasar. The radiation is thought to be caused by matter orbiting a black hole and gradually spiraling inwards. The emission is from the intense friction between the different radii in the accretion disk (outer radii go more slowly than inner radii - the differential velocity causes friction).

This mechanism is very efficient - up to 40% of the rest mass energy can be converted into heat and light.

This galaxy also has an interesting outer ring, like M94.

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M77, Colin McGill