Image:Circinus.galaxy.750pix.jpg
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Seyfert-type spiral galaxy in Circinus. The galaxy lies 13 million light-years away in the southern constellation Circinus.
The galaxy is designated a type 2 Seyfert, a class of mostly spiral galaxies that have compact centers and are believed to contain massive black holes. Seyfert galaxies are themselves part of a larger class of objects called Active Galactic Nuclei or AGN. AGN have the ability to remove gas from the centers of their galaxies by blowing it out into space at phenomenal speeds. Astronomers studying the Circinus galaxy are seeing evidence of a powerful AGN at the center of this galaxy.
CREDIT: Andrew S. Wilson (University of Maryland); Patrick L. Shopbell (Caltech); Chris Simpson (Subaru Telescope); Thaisa Storchi-Bergmann and F. K. B. Barbosa (UFRGS, Brazil); and Martin J. Ward (University of Leicester, U.K.), WFPC2, HST, NASA
SOURCE: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001204.html
COPYRIGHT: “Unless otherwise specifically stated, no claim to copyright is being asserted by STScI and it may be freely used as in the public domain in accordance with NASA's contract. However, it is requested that in any subsequent use of this work NASA and STScI be given appropriate acknowledgement.”
PREPARED BY Adrian Pingstone in December 2003.
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