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IC 4553, John Bozeman

IC 4553

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IC 4553, John Bozeman

IC 4553

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Description

The active galaxy IC 4553 (Arp 220) is distinguished both by the intrinsic strength of its OH maser emission (greater than that of any part OH maser) and by its far-infrared excess (higher than that of any other UGC galaxy). The nucleus, which is obscured by the edge-on galactic disc, is surrounded by a stellar halo which is seen as an extended infrared source and appears optically as two components, one on each side of the disc. Arp 220 is the closest Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxy (ULIRG) to Earth, at 250 million light years away. Its energy output was discovered by IRAS to be dominated by the far-infrared part of the spectrum. It is often regarded as the prototypical ULIRG and has been the subject of much study as a result. Most of its energy output is thought to be the result of a massive burst of star formation, or starburst, probably triggered by the merging of two smaller galaxies. HST observations of Arp 220 in 2002 and 1997, taken in visible light with the ACS, and in infrared light with NICMOS, revealed more than 200 huge star clusters in the central part of the galaxy. The most massive of these clusters contains enough material to equal about 10 million suns. X-ray observations by the Chandra and XMM-Newton satellites have shown that Arp 220 probably includes an active galactic nucleus (AGN) at its core, which raises interesting questions about the link between galaxy mergers and AGN, since it is believed that galactic mergers often trigger starbursts, and may also give rise to the supermassive black holes that appear to power AGN.

Data from the James Webb Space Telescope MAST Pipeline. Release date: 2023-01-14

Camera: NIRCAM

Color Mapped:

Red-F444W
Green-F277W
Blue-F150W

Processed with FITS Liberator, PixInsight and Photoshop 2023.

Comments

Histogram

IC 4553, John Bozeman