What's happening at the center of spiral galaxy M106? A swirling disk of stars and gas, M106 [ http://www.seds.org…]'s appearance is dominated by two bright spiral arms and dark dust [ ftp://ftp.amara.com…] lanes near the nucleus. Bright newly formed stars near their outer tips distinguish the spiral arms in the above photograph [ http://www.noao.edu…]. The core of M106 glows brightly in radio waves [ http://imagers.gsfc…] and X-rays [ http://www.optonlin…] where twin jets have been found [ http://adsbit.harva…] running the length of the galaxy. An unusual central glow makes M106 one of the closest examples of the Seyfert class of galaxies [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], where vast amounts of glowing gas are thought to be falling into a central massive black hole [ http://imagine.gsfc…]. M [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]106, also designated NGC [ http://www.aspsky.o…] 4258, is a relatively close 25 million light years away, spans 30 thousand light years [ http://chandra.harv…] across, and can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation [ http://www.astro.wi…] of Canes Venatici [ http://www.astro.wi…].
Explanation
What's happening at the center of spiral galaxy M106? A swirling disk of stars and gas, M106 [ http://www.seds.org…]'s appearance is dominated by two bright spiral arms and dark dust [ ftp://ftp.amara.com…] lanes near the nucleus. Bright newly formed stars near their outer tips distinguish the spiral arms in the above photograph [ http://www.noao.edu…]. The core of M106 glows brightly in radio waves [ http://imagers.gsfc…] and X-rays [ http://www.optonlin…] where twin jets have been found [ http://adsbit.harva…] running the length of the galaxy. An unusual central glow makes M106 one of the closest examples of the Seyfert class of galaxies [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], where vast amounts of glowing gas are thought to be falling into a central massive black hole [ http://imagine.gsfc…]. M [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]106, also designated NGC [ http://www.aspsky.o…] 4258, is a relatively close 25 million light years away, spans 30 thousand light years [ http://chandra.harv…] across, and can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation [ http://www.astro.wi…] of Canes Venatici [ http://www.astro.wi…].
