Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Active Galaxy NGC 1275 Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]Hubble Heritage, A. Fabian (University of Cambridge, UK) Explanation: [6]Active galaxy NGC 1275 is the central, dominant member of the large and relatively nearby [7]Perseus Cluster of Galaxies. Wild-looking at visible wavelengths, the active galaxy is also a prodigious source of [8]x-rays and [9]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 [10]image made from Hubble Space Telescope data recorded during 2006. It highlights the resulting [11]galactic debris and [12]filaments of glowing gas, some up to 20,000 light-years long. [13]The filaments persist in NGC 1275, even though the turmoil of galactic collisions should destroy them. What keeps the filaments together? [14]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 [15]Perseus A, NGC 1275 spans over 100,000 light years and lies about 230 million light years away. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space __________________________________________________________________ [16]< | [17]Archive | [18]Submissions | [19]Index | [20]Search | [21]Calendar | [22]RSS | [23]Education | [24]About APOD | [25]Discuss | [26]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [27]Robert Nemiroff ([28]MTU) & [29]Jerry Bonnell ([30]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [31]Specific rights apply. [32]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [33]ASD at [34]NASA / [35]GSFC, [36]NASA Science Activation & [37]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2301/ngc1275_heic0817a.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.esa.int/ 5. https://hubblesite.org/resource-gallery/learning-resources/hubble-heritage 6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_galactic_nucleus 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090508.html 8. https://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_astro/history.html 9. https://public.nrao.edu/radio-astronomy/the-science-of-radio-astronomy/ 10. https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2008/28/2375-Image.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030505.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050725.html 13. https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2008/news-2008-28.html 14. http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.2712 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%20Perseus_(constellation) 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230125.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 20. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 25. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230126 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230127.html 27. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 30. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 32. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 33. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 34. https://www.nasa.gov/ 35. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 36. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 37. http://www.mtu.edu/