What’s in a name?
Not all galaxies have the luxury of possessing a simple moniker or quirky nickname. The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image was one of the unlucky ones, and goes by the rather unpoetic name of 2XMM J143450.5+033843.
Such a name may seem like a random jumble of numbers and letters, but like all galactic epithets it has a distinct meaning. This galaxy, for example, was detected and observed as part of the second X-ray sky survey performed by ESA’s XMM-Newton Observatory. Its celestial coordinates form the rest of the bulky name, following the “J”: a right ascension value of 14h 34m 50.5s (this can be likened to terrestrial longitude), and a declination of +03d 38m 43s (this can be likened to terrestrial latitude). The other fuzzy object in the frame was named in the same way — it is a bright galaxy named 2XMM J143448.3+033749.
2XMM J143450.5+033843 lies nearly 400 million light-years away from Earth. It is a Seyfert galaxy that is dominated by something known as an Active Galactic Nucleus — its core is thought to contain a supermassive black hole that is emitting huge amounts of radiation, pouring energetic X-rays out into the Universe.
Credit:ESA/Hubble & NASA
About the Image
Id: | potw1726a |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 26 June 2017, 06:00 |
Size: | 3428 x 1983 px |
About the Object
Name: | 2XMM J143450.5+033843 |
Type: | Local Universe : Galaxy : Activity : AGN : Seyfert |
Distance: | 400 million light years |
Constellation: | Virgo |
Category: | Galaxies |
Wallpapers
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 14 34 50.63 |
Position (Dec): | 3° 38' 43.61" |
Field of view: | 2.85 x 1.65 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 98.4° left of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Optical B | 435 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical I | 814 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |