Collection:
NASA Hubble Space Telescope Collection Collection NASA Hubble Space Telescope Collection Collection
Title:
Black Hole in Search of a Home Title Black Hole in Search of a Home Title
Object Name:
HE0450-2958 Object_Name HE0450-2958 Object Name
Object Name:
HE1239-2426 Object_Name HE1239-2426 Object Name
General Information:
What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. A team of European astronomers has used two of the most powerful astronomical facilities available, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal, to find a bright quasar without a massive host galaxy. Quasars are powerful and typically very distant sources of prodigious amounts of radiation. They are commonly associated with galaxies containing an active central black hole. The team confidently concludes that the quasar on the left, HE0450-2958 (in the center, distance about 5 billion light-years) does not have a massive host galaxy. The quasar HE1239-2426 to the right (at a distance of 1.5 billion light-years), has a normal host galaxy which displays large spiral arms. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.o…] General_Information What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. A team of European astronomers has used two of the most powerful astronomical facilities available, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal, to find a bright quasar without a massive host galaxy. Quasars are powerful and typically very distant sources of prodigious amounts of radiation. They are commonly associated with galaxies containing an active central black hole. The team confidently concludes that the quasar on the left, HE0450-2958 (in the center, distance about 5 billion light-years) does not have a massive host galaxy. The quasar HE1239-2426 to the right (at a distance of 1.5 billion light-years), has a normal host galaxy which displays large spiral arms. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.o…] General Information
Acknowledgement:
Credit: NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/], ESA [ http://www.spacetel…], ESO, Frédéric Courbin (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland) & Pierre Magain (Universite de Liege, Belgium) Acknowledgement Credit: NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/], ESA [ http://www.spacetel…], ESO, Frédéric Courbin (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland) & Pierre Magain (Universite de Liege, Belgium) Acknowledgement
Fast Facts:
Technical facts about this news release: Back to entire collection [ http://hubblesite.o…] Next release [ http://hubblesite.o…] Previous release [ http://hubblesite.o…] Fast_Facts Technical facts about this news release: Back to entire collection [ http://hubblesite.o…] Next release [ http://hubblesite.o…] Previous release [ http://hubblesite.o…] Fast Facts
note:
Image Type:: Astronomical note Image Type:: Astronomical note
note:
Release Date:September 14, 2005 02:00 PM (EDT) note Release Date:September 14, 2005 02:00 PM (EDT) note
note:
News Release Number:: STScI-2005-13a note News Release Number:: STScI-2005-13a note
note:
Title:Black Hole in Search of a Home note Title:Black Hole in Search of a Home note
note:
Description: This figure shows two Hubble images of quasars from a sample of 20 relatively nearby quasars examined by a team of European astronomers with two of the most powerful astronomical facilities available, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal. The team confidently concludes that the quasar on the left, HE0450-2958 (in the center, distance about 5 billion light-years) does not have a massive host galaxy. The quasar HE1239-2426 to the right (at a distance of 1.5 billion light-years), has a normal host galaxy which displays large spiral arms. Although HE1239-2426 is much closer than HE0450-2958, the host galaxy of the latter would still be perfectly visible if it was as bright as that of HE1239-2426. The lack of a prominent host galaxy around a very bright quasar (HE0450-2958) suggests a rare case of a collision between a seemingly normal spiral galaxy and an exotic object harboring a very massive black hole. Also seen in the image to the left (above the quasar) is a strongly disturbed galaxy, showing all the signs of a recent collision. The VLT observations show it to be forming stars at a frantic rate. A foreground star is seen below the quasar. The two images have been scaled to exhibit the same linear scale. The images were taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in October 2004. note Description: This figure shows two Hubble images of quasars from a sample of 20 relatively nearby quasars examined by a team of European astronomers with two of the most powerful astronomical facilities available, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal. The team confidently concludes that the quasar on the left, HE0450-2958 (in the center, distance about 5 billion light-years) does not have a massive host galaxy. The quasar HE1239-2426 to the right (at a distance of 1.5 billion light-years), has a normal host galaxy which displays large spiral arms. Although HE1239-2426 is much closer than HE0450-2958, the host galaxy of the latter would still be perfectly visible if it was as bright as that of HE1239-2426. The lack of a prominent host galaxy around a very bright quasar (HE0450-2958) suggests a rare case of a collision between a seemingly normal spiral galaxy and an exotic object harboring a very massive black hole. Also seen in the image to the left (above the quasar) is a strongly disturbed galaxy, showing all the signs of a recent collision. The VLT observations show it to be forming stars at a frantic rate. A foreground star is seen below the quasar. The two images have been scaled to exhibit the same linear scale. The images were taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in October 2004. note
facet_what:
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ESO facet_what ESO facet_what
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VLT facet_what VLT facet_what
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UID:
SPD-HUBBLE-STScI-200 5-13a UID SPD-HUBBLE-STScI-200 5-13a UID
original url:
http://hubblesite.o… original_url http://hubblesite.o… original url
Release Date:
September 14, 2005 02:00 PM (EDT) Release_Date September 14, 2005 02:00 PM (EDT) Release Date

Black Hole in Search of a Home

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Black Hole in Search of a Home