哈勃太空望远镜拍摄到异常明亮的相互作用星系

This new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows interacting galaxies known as AM 1214-255. These galaxies contain active galactic nuclei, or AGNs. An AGN is an extraordinarily luminous central region of a galaxy. Its extreme brightness is caused by matter whirling into a supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s heart.

Hubble observed the galaxy closest to the center as part of an AGN survey, with the aim of compiling a dataset about nearby AGNs to be used as a resource for astronomers investigating AGN physics, black holes, host galaxy structure, and more.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Barth (University of California – Irvine), and J. Dalcanton (University of Washington);
Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

这张来自NASA哈勃太空望远镜的新图像显示了相互作用的星系，称为AM 1214-255。这些星系包含活动星系核（AGN）。AGN是星系中非常明亮的中心区域。它的极端亮度是由物质旋转进入星系中心的超大质量黑洞造成。

作为AGN调查的一部分，哈勃观察了最靠近中心的星系，目的是汇编一个关于附近AGN的数据集，作为天文学家研究AGN物理学、黑洞、宿主星系结构等的资源。

影像来源：NASA, ESA, A. Barth (University of California – Irvine), and J. Dalcanton (University of Washington);
影像处理：Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)