The Centre of the Active Galaxy NGC 1097
Colour-composite image of the central 5,500 light-years wide region of the spiral galaxy NGC 1097, obtained with the NACO adaptive optics on the VLT. More than 300 star forming regions - white spots in the image - are distributed along a ring of dust and gas in the image. At the centre of the ring there is a bright central source where the active galactic nucleus and its super-massive black hole are located. The image was constructed by stacking J- (blue), H- (green), and Ks-band (red) images. North is up and East is to the left. The field of view is 24 x 29 arcsec2, i.e. less than 0.03% the size of the full moon!
Credit:
ESO
About the Image
| Id: | eso0534a |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 17 October 2005 |
| Related releases: | eso0534 |
| Size: | 1467 x 1695 px |
About the Object
| Name: | NGC 1097 |
| Type: | • Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral • X - Galaxies |
| Distance: | 45 million light years |
Colours & filters
| Band | Telescope |
| Infrared J |
Very Large Telescope NACO |
| Infrared H |
Very Large Telescope NACO |
| Infrared K |
Very Large Telescope NACO |
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