High-energy jet in NGC 3862

This is the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the central region of the galaxy NGC 3862 that reveals a jet-like feature previously unseen in optical wavelengths.  The image was taken with the European Space Agency's Faint object Camera in F/96 mode at a wavelength of 3400 Å in the near-ultraviolet region of the spectrum. The image's 0.06 arc second resolution reveals several knots and twists in the jet. The jet's full angular size is about 0.6 arc second, corresponding to a length of about 740 light-years.

NGC 3862 is an elliptical galaxy in a rich cluster of galaxies known as Abell 1367, located at a distance of about 260 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo.

This new type of jet suggests that astronomers are seeing a new and unexpected phenomenon in galactic nuclei.

Credit:

About the Image

Id:eso9206a
Type:Observation
Release date:27 July 2010, 17:07
Related releases:eso9206
Size:2213 x 2119 px

About the Object

Name:NGC 3862
Type:Unspecified : Galaxy : Type : Elliptical
Local Universe : Galaxy : Activity : AGN
Distance:250 million light years
Category:Galaxies
Quasars and Black Holes

Image Formats

Large JPEG
890.2 KB
Screensize JPEG
164.3 KB

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Ultraviolet
U
340 nmHubble Space Telescope