                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2023 January 26

                           Active Galaxy NGC 1275
     Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage, A. Fabian (University of
                               Cambridge, UK)

   Explanation: Active galaxy NGC 1275 is the central, dominant member of
   the large and relatively nearby Perseus Cluster of Galaxies.
   Wild-looking at visible wavelengths, the active galaxy is also a
   prodigious source of x-rays and radio emission. NGC 1275 accretes
   matter as entire galaxies fall into it, ultimately feeding a
   supermassive black hole at the galaxy's core. This color composite
   image made from Hubble Space Telescope data recorded during 2006. It
   highlights the resulting galactic debris and filaments of glowing gas,
   some up to 20,000 light-years long. The filaments persist in NGC 1275,
   even though the turmoil of galactic collisions should destroy them.
   What keeps the filaments together? Observations indicate that the
   structures, pushed out from the galaxy's center by the black hole's
   activity, are held together by magnetic fields. Also known as Perseus
   A, NGC 1275 spans over 100,000 light years and lies about 230 million
   light years away.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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