Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Fornax (For)  ·  Contains:  NGC 1097
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The Coiled Galaxy NGC 1097 and its Jets, Patrick Dufour
The Coiled Galaxy NGC 1097 and its Jets, Patrick Dufour

The Coiled Galaxy NGC 1097 and its Jets

Acquisition type: Electronically-Assisted Astronomy (EAA, e.g. based on a live video feed)
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The Coiled Galaxy NGC 1097 and its Jets, Patrick Dufour
The Coiled Galaxy NGC 1097 and its Jets, Patrick Dufour

The Coiled Galaxy NGC 1097 and its Jets

Acquisition type: Electronically-Assisted Astronomy (EAA, e.g. based on a live video feed)

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Description

NGC 1097 is located 50 million light-years away. It is spiral-shaped like our Milky Way, with long, spindly arms of stars. The "eye" at the center of the galaxy is actually a monstrous black hole surrounded by a ring of stars.

The black hole is huge, about 100 million times the mass of our sun, and is feeding off gas and dust along with the occasional unlucky star.

The jets trace an X centered on the galaxy's nucleus. It seems they don't originate there but 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.

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    The Coiled Galaxy NGC 1097 and its Jets, Patrick Dufour
    Original
    The Coiled Galaxy NGC 1097 and its Jets, Patrick Dufour
    B
  • Final
    The Coiled Galaxy NGC 1097 and its Jets, Patrick Dufour
    C

B

Description: Annotated

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C

Description: reprocessed dynamic range and stars

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The Coiled Galaxy NGC 1097 and its Jets, Patrick Dufour

In these public groups

Astroimaging from Chile
Astro-Québec