NGC 5813, Elliptical Galaxy, Temperature Map
Temperature map of the elliptical galaxy NGC 5813, the dominant central galaxy in a galaxy group located about 105 million light years away from Earth. Regular outbursts generated by the supermassive black hole at the center of NGC 5813 provide heat, preventing the gas near the center of the galaxy from cooling to such low temperatures. This decreases the amount of cool gas available to form new stars. This process is analogous to the Sun providing heat for Earth's atmosphere and preventing water and water vapor from cooling and freezing. Powerful jets produced as gas swirls toward the black hole push cavities into the hot gas and drive shock waves, like sonic booms, outwards, heating the gas. The shocks from the most recent outburst, which occurred about 3 million years ago in Earth's time frame, show up as a "figure eight" structure at the center of the image. This is the first system where the observed heating from shocks alone is sufficient to keep the gas from cooling indefinitely. The gas around NGC 5813 shows evidence for three distinct outbursts from the black hole, which occurred 3 million, 20 million and 90 million years ago, in Earth's time frame. The average power of the two most recent outbursts differ by about a factor of six, showing that the power delivered by the jets can vary significantly over timescales of about 10 million years. Release date December 8, 2010.
Size: 3600px × 3600px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 2010, 21st, 5813, astronomical, astronomy, black, body, celestial, century, cosmography, cosmological, cosmology, cosmos, deep, elliptical, event, evolution, galaxies, galaxy, general, heavenly, hole, horizon, map, ngc, object, point, relativity, return, science, sky, space, supermassive, temperature, universe, void
