James Webb Captures Messier 77 47 Million Light-Years Away, Revealing Black Hole-Fueled Glow
Updated
Updated · Space.com · May 19
James Webb Captures Messier 77 47 Million Light-Years Away, Revealing Black Hole-Fueled Glow
3 articles · Updated · Space.com · May 19
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope released a new close-up of Messier 77 showing a bright core, glowing gas and dust, and prominent rays extending from the galaxy’s center.
The glow is driven by the supermassive black hole at M77’s core, whose gravity pulls in gas that heats up and emits radiation, according to NASA.
The sharp light spikes are not produced by the black hole itself but by Webb’s optics, an imaging effect superimposed on the barred spiral galaxy.
Messier 77 lies about 47 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Cetus and, at magnitude 9.6, can be spotted with a small telescope.
Webb saw a 'Squid Galaxy' lit up by its black hole. Could our own Milky Way be next to ignite?
How does a galaxy's newly-seen internal 'bar' structure actually fuel its monstrous central black hole?
What fundamental mystery of how galaxies live and die does this new Webb image help us finally solve?