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Runaway Black Hole Near RCP28

A Hubble image of a black, deep-space field is speckled with galaxies and one, lone star. In the center of the image is a small, white-bordered, boxed area that contains one, long, thin, diagonal streak of whitish-blue stars and two galaxies. To the right of the small box is a larger, white-bordered box that contains a magnified view of the contents of smaller box.

This Hubble Space Telescope archival photo captures a curious linear feature that is so unusual it was first dismissed as an imaging artifact from Hubble's cameras. But follow-up spectroscopic observations reveal it is a 200,000-light-year-long chain of young blue stars. A supermassive black hole lies at the tip of the bridge at lower left. The black hole was ejected from the galaxy at upper right. It compressed gas in its wake to leave a long trail of young blue stars. Nothing like this has ever been seen before in the universe. This unusual event happened when the universe was approximately half its current age.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    40:25:51.30
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -08:20:46.26
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Ophiuchus
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    7.669 billion light years (z=0.964)
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is about 2.4 arcmin across (about 1.4 million light-years)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    The HST observations include those from program 16912 (P. van Dokkum)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    ACS
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    September 5, 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F606W, F814W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    RCP28
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Runaway supermassive black hole
  • Release Date
    April 6, 2023
  • Science Release
    Hubble Sees Possible Runaway Black Hole Creating a Trail of Stars
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, Pieter van Dokkum (Yale); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Display), 2866 × 1612
    png (8.5 MB)
  • Full Res (For Print), 2866 × 1612
    tif (10.43 MB)
  • 2000 × 1125
    png (3.98 MB)
  • Unannotated Full Res (For Display), 2866 × 1612
    png (8.81 MB)
  • Unannotated Full Res (For Print), 2866 × 1612
    tif (10.97 MB)
  • Unannotated, 2000 × 1125
    png (4.05 MB)
A Hubble image of a black, deep-space field is speckled with galaxies and one, lone star. In the center of the image is a small, white-bordered, boxed area that contains one, long, thin, diagonal streak of whitish-blue stars and two galaxies. To the right of the small box is a larger, white-bordered box that contains a magnified view of the contents of smaller box.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Two filters were used to sample wide wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Cyan: F606W, Orange: F814W.

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

This illustration shows a black field speckled with white, yellow and red galaxies. A black hole, near the left, bottom corner of the image, plows through space, leaving a diagonal trail of newborn stars stretching back to the black hole's parent galaxy.

Runaway Supermassive Black Hole Illustration

This is an artist's impression of a runaway supermassive black hole that was ejected from its host galaxy as a result of a tussle between it and two other black holes. As the black hole plows through intergalactic space it compresses tenuous gas in front to it. This precipitates...

A Hubble photograph of a curious linear feature on a deep-space field. The photograph is overlaid with a color key, scale bar, compass arrows, and two, white-bordered boxes showcasing the feature.

Runaway Black Hole Compass Image

This compass image shows a Hubble Space Telescope archival photo which captures a curious linear feature that is so unusual it was first dismissed as an imaging artifact from Hubble’s cameras. But follow-up spectroscopic observations reveal it is a 200,000-light-year-long chain...

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

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

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