This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the elliptical galaxy Messier 105. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Sarazin et al.
It may seem featureless and unexciting at first glance, but this elliptical galaxy—dubbed Messier 105—from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows that the stars near the galactic center are moving very fast.
Astronomers have concluded that these stars are zooming around a supermassive black hole with the mass of 200 million suns. This black hole releases large amounts of energy as it consumes matter falling into it, creating an active galactic nucleus that makes the center of the galaxy shine much brighter than its surroundings.
Hubble surprised astronomers by revealing a handful of young stars and clusters in Messier 105, a galaxy thought to be „dead” and incapable of star formation. Astronomers now believe that Messier 105 produces a Sun-like star every 10,000 years. Astronomers detected star-forming activity in a vast ring of hydrogen gas surrounding both Messier 105 and its closest neighbor, the lenticular galaxy NGC 3384.
Discovered in 1781, Messier 105 is about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Leo (The Lion) and is the brightest elliptical galaxy in the Leo I constellation.
Quotation: Image: Hubble probes the elliptical galaxy Messier 105 (2024, June 28) Retrieved 28 June 2024
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