Thanks, Jac, you know I love your images!
A flying fox of plasma without a galaxy inside, eh? That reminds me of Hanny's Voorwerp.
Wikipedia wrote:
Hanny's Voorwerp /ˈhʌniz ˈvɔːrwɛərp/, (Dutch for Hanny's object) is a type of astronomical object called a quasar ionization echo.[1][2][3][4] It was discovered in 2007 by Dutch schoolteacher Hanny van Arkel while she was participating as a volunteer in the Galaxy Zoo project, part of the Zooniverse group of citizen science websites. Photographically, it appears as a bright blob close to spiral galaxy IC 2497 in the constellation Leo Minor.
Hanny's Voorwerp is a blob of light without a galaxy inside. It may have been ionized by a quasar in galaxy IC 2497 that has since switched off.
In your image of the flying fox, we can see that relatively nearby galaxy NGC 3309 (upper right) is surrounded by two radio lobes. This suggests that its central black hole is active. Perhaps the black hole had an outburst a number of million years ago, and emitted a jet that pointed at an "orphan gas cloud", ionizing it.
Where did the gas cloud come from? Well, there is an obvious candidate, isn't there? In this cluster dominated by ellipticals, there is one large spiral galaxy present, NGC 3312. This galaxy is right next to the flying fox, too. In your picture, we see it at left. Isn't it likely that NGC 3312 was made to eject a gas cloud that was subsequently ionized by the black hole of elliptical galaxy NGC 3309? Of course NGC 3312 must have its own black hole too, and this black hole may have had an outburst that ionized the gas cloud that NGC 3312 itself had ejected.
Well, fascinating, Jac!
Ann
Statistics: Posted by Ann — Sat Apr 13, 2024 5:48 am — Replies 2 — Views 47