NASA

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Not your ordinary spiral... At first glance, UGC 11397 looks like a typical spiral galaxy: two graceful arms, illuminated by stars, stretch out from its core. The heart of UGC 11397 hides what makes this galaxy unique, though—a supermassive black hole 174 million times the mass of our Sun. And it's still growing. Material trapped by the black hole emits light in frequencies from radio waves to gamma rays, but thick clouds of dust hide most of this from view in the visible spectrum. X-ray emissions, though, helped astronomers uncover this cosmic phenomenon. This image of UGC 11397 was taken by our orbiting @NASAHubble telescope. Image description: A spiral galaxy burns bright, with twin spiral arms snaking out in shades of white, blue, and dark red. The background surrounding it has a handful of shining stars. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. J. Koss, A. J. Barth #NASA #Space #Universe #Galaxy #BlackHole

07.04 04:25

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