Hubble sees magnetic monster in erupting galaxy

August 21, 2008

The Hubble Space Telescope has found the answer to a long-standing puzzle by resolving giant but delicate filaments shaped by a strong magnetic field around the active galaxy NGC 1275. It is the most striking example of the influence of these immense tentacles of extragalactic magnetic fields, say researchers.

NGC 1275 is one of the closest giant elliptical galaxies and lies at the centre of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies. It is an active galaxy, hosting a supermassive black hole at its core, which blows bubbles of radio-wave emitting material into the surrounding cluster gas. Its most spectacular feature is the lacy filigree of gaseous filaments reaching out beyond the galaxy into the multi-million degree X-ray emitting gas that fills the cluster.

These filaments are the only visible-light manifestation of the intricate relationship between the central black hole and the surrounding cluster gas. They provide important clues about how giant black holes affect their surrounding environment.

A team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys have for the first time resolved individual threads of gas which make up the filaments. The amount of gas contained in a typical thread is around one million times the mass of our own Sun. They are only 200 light-years wide, are often surprisingly straight, and extend for up to 20 000 light-years. The filaments are formed when cold gas from the galaxy's core is dragged out in the wake of rising bubbles blown by the black hole.

It has been a challenge for astronomers to understand how the delicate structures withstood the hostile high-energy environment of the galaxy cluster for more than 100 million years. They should have heated up, dispersed, and evaporated over a very short period of time, or collapsed under their own gravity to form stars. Even more puzzling is the fact that they haven't been ripped apart by the strong tidal pull of gravity in the cluster's core.

A new study led by Andy Fabian from the University of Cambridge, UK, published in Nature on 21 August 2008 proposes that the magnetic fields hold the charged gas in place and resist forces that would distort the filaments. This skeletal structure has been able to contain and suspend these peculiarly long threads for over 100 million years. "We can see that the magnetic fields are crucial for these complex filaments - both for their survival and for their integrity", said Fabian.

The new Hubble data also allowed the strength of the magnetic fields in the filaments to be determined from their size. Thinner filaments are more fragile, requiring stronger magnetic fields for support. However, the finer the filaments, the more difficult they are to observe.

The filamentary system in NGC 1275 provides the most striking example of the workings of extragalactic magnetic fields so far and is a spectacular by-product of the complex interaction between the cluster gas and the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's heart. Similar networks of filaments are found around many other, even more remote, central cluster galaxies. They cannot be observed in anything like the detail of NGC 1275, so the team will apply the understanding gained here to interpret observations of these more distant galaxies.

Hubble Information Centre

---

---

	Hubble: A Journey Through Space and Time by Edward Weiler (Author) NASA's first book on the Hubble Space Telescope marks the 20th anniversary of one of history's most important scientific tools. Here is Hubble's great visual legacy to humanity in stunning images that are benchmarks of astronomy and photography. Of the more than 100 classic Hubble images that were selected by NASA's experts, the 20 most significant are accompanied by commentaries by notable scientists. Veteran astronauts from NASA's five remarkable manned missions to maintain the telescope also contribute to this volume, making it an authoritative account of a magnificent scientific achievement. Beyond its scientific contributions, twenty years of Hubble research and imagery--ranging from our planetary neighbors to the edge of time and space--have had a profound impact on the...
	Hubble: Imaging Space and Time (National Geographic) by David Devorkin (Author), Robert Smith (Author) In the spirit of National Geographic’s top-selling Orbit, this large-format, full-color volume stands alone in revealing more than 200 of the most spectacular images from the Hubble Space Telescope during its lifetime, to the very eve of the 2008 final shuttle mission to the telescope. Written by two of the world’s foremost authorities on space history, Hubble: Imaging Space and Time illuminates the solar system’s workings, the expansion of the universe, the birth and death of stars, the formation of planetary nebulae, the dynamics of galaxies, and the mysterious force known as "dark energy." The potential impact of this book cannot be overstressed: The 2008 servicing mission to install new high-powered scientific instruments is especially high profile because the...
	The Universe in a Mirror: The Saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Visionaries Who Built It by Robert Zimmerman (Author) The Hubble Space Telescope has produced the most stunning images of the cosmos humanity has ever seen. It has transformed our understanding of the universe around us, revealing new information about its age and evolution, the life cycle of stars, and the very existence of black holes, among other startling discoveries. But it took an amazing amount of work and perseverance to get the first space telescope up and running. The Universe in a Mirror tells the story of this telescope and the visionaries responsible for its extraordinary accomplishments. Robert Zimmerman takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most ambitious scientific instruments ever sent into space. After World War II, astronomer Lyman Spitzer and a handful of scientists waged a fifty-year struggle to build the first...
	Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe by Mark Voit (Author) How did the universe begin? How big is it? What is it made of? What is its ultimate fate? These are some of the questions that scientists have been investigating with the Hubble Space Telescope since its launch in 1990. Not only is Hubble providing us with an unprecedented amount of information about the universe, but its breathtaking images -- disseminated in the press and over the Internet -- have excited more people around the world than any other images made in the last decade.This fabulous, poster-size paperback on Hubble's dramatic discoveries -- prepared to accompany a major Smithsonian Institution exhibition that will travel across the United States for several years -- presents the awesome Hubble images of nebulae, emerging stars, and other celestial phenomena that have...
	The Heavens Proclaim His Glory: A Spectacular View of Creation Through the Lens of the NASA Hubble Telescope by Thomas Nelson (Author) "I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God."  Abraham Lincoln Our world displays the handiwork of God all around us-in the land and sea, the animals and the plants. But in respect to the sky, the heavens, the universe…there's a realm of beauty and creation man has not been able to witness, until now.  The Heavens Proclaim His Glory is a compilation of stunning photography taken by NASA's Hubble® Telescope capturing striking images of stars, galaxies, cosmic events, planets, and more. Vivid up-close photographs are paired with a romantic Psalm or quote, as well as a short description of the image. The Heavens will open up a whole new world of worship...
	Space, Stars, and the Beginning of Time: What the Hubble Telescope Saw by Elaine Scott (Author) Have you ever wished you could travel back in time?  Or visit a galaxy light-years away?  Or see a star being born? The Hubble telescope has allowed scientists to do just that. The Hubble’s dazzling images have transformed astronomy, shedding light on the deepest mysteries of the cosmos, sparking new discoveries and turning speculation into fact. Its gaze has helped astronomers find new galaxies, look back in time almost to the Big Bang, and verify the existence of dark energy, the mysterious force that is causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. Through the eye of the Hubble, Elaine Scott skillfully guides readers along the evolution of our universe, investigating a question that was once unanswerable: “Where did we come from?”
	2011 Hubble Space Telescope Calendar by Wyman Publishing (Author) This calendar is filled with stunning images of the universe that surrounds us, captured by the marvelous Hubble Telescope.
	Universe of the Hubble Space Telescope 2013 Calendar by Astrographics (Creator) This remarkable 12" by 12" wall calendar features beautiful images of planets, stars, gaseous nebulae, and galaxies captured by NASA's orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, one of the most important scientific instruments of our time. The images have been digitally processed to reveal the elegant and subtle beauty of the most distant realms of the Universe. Includes accurate and informative descriptions by a professional astronomer, and Astrographics' exclusive Sky Watching Guide.
	The Hubble Wars: Astrophysics Meets Astropolitics in the Two-Billion-Dollar Struggle over the Hubble Space Telescope, With a New Preface by Eric J. Chaisson (Author) The Hubble Space Telescope is the largest, most complex, and most powerful observatory ever deployed in space, designed to allow astronomers to look far back into our own cosmic past with unprecedented clarity. Yet from its launch in 1990, when it was discovered that a flawed mirror was causing severe "myopia" and sending fuzzy images back to Earth, the HST has been at the center of a controversy over who was at fault for the flaw and how it should be fixed. Now Chaisson, a former senior scientist on the HST project, tells the inside story of the much heralded mission to fix the telescope. Drawing on his journals, Chaisson recreates the day-to-day struggles of scientists, politicians, and publicists to fix the telescope and control the political spin. Illustrated with "before and after"...
	A Journey through Time: Exploring the Universe with the Hubble Space Telescope (Penguin Studio Books) by Jay Barbree (Author), Martin Caidin (Author), John H. Glenn (Foreword) With a resolution more than ten times sharper than any telescope on Earth, the Hubble Space Telescope has seen more than 72 sextillion miles into the universe into events that took place more than 12 billion years ago. This spectacular collection of more than 200 color photos taken through Hubble presents a stupendous view of the universe.