Suggested Searches

1 min read

Active Galactic Nucleus Animation

This animation provides a close-up look at the behavior of a central black hole in the nucleus of an active galaxy. An accretion disk of infalling material surrounds a central black hole that may be millions or billions of times the mass of our Sun. Some of the superheated material escapes along the black hole's rotation axis. Powerful magnetic fields keep the material confined to an extragalactic jet. Hubble Space Telescope spectroscopic observations of active galactic nuclei reveal how stellar material is blown back into intergalactic space.
  • Release Date
    September 9, 2009
  • Science Release
    Hubble Opens New Eyes on the Universe
  • Credits
    NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team

Downloads

  • 1280 × 720
    mp4 (34.77 MB)
  • 640 × 360
    mp4 (16.96 MB)

Share

Details

Last Updated
Feb 17, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov