Death Star Galaxy – Pictures and video of the 3C321 system, a pair of orbiting galaxies where a black hole at the center of one galaxy is shooting a death ray at the other galaxy with a supercharged jet of deadly energy, blasting the neighboring star system with high-energy x-rays and gamma rays.
Composite view of the so-called Death Star galaxy shows the jet from a black hole at the center of a galaxy striking the edge of another galaxy, the first time such an interaction has been found. In the image, data from several wavelengths have been combined.
“We’ve seen many jets produced by black holes, but this is the first time we’ve seen one punch into another galaxy like we’re seeing here,” said Dan Evans, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and leader of the study. “This jet could be causing all sorts of problems for the smaller galaxy it is pummeling.”
View of the 3C321 galaxy pair from the Hubble telescope:
The black hole death ray’s effect of the jet on the companion galaxy is likely to be substantial, because the galaxies in 3C321 are extremely close at a distance of only about 20,000 light years apart. They lie approximately the same distance as Earth is from the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Artist’s view of the Death Star galaxy from NASA Chandra program:
Such jets from black holes have been seen before, and they produce high amounts of radiation, especially high-energy X-rays and gamma-rays.
“In addition to that, there is high energy radiation coming out from the center of the active galaxy. That is not the jet,” Evans said.
Reuters News Video on Black Hole Death Ray
It is not clear why the larger galaxy started shooting out these deadly rays. “We know how you can trigger a black hole by having two galaxies interact because it disrupts the gravity field that was previously stable,” one researcher noted.
The jet attack is relatively new, in deep space time. Scientific estimates say it’s no more than 1 million years old and can last for another 10 to 100 million years.
X-ray view of 3C321 system from NASA Chandra laboratory:
“A truly extraordinary act of violence,” Evans said. “The jet violently slams into that lower half of the neighboring galaxy after which the jet dramatically twists and bends.”
The results from Evans and his colleagues will appear in The Astrophysical Journal.
And that’s the latest news on the Death Star Galaxy.
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