Cool Dust around Energetic Active Black Holes

Dust around Active Black Holes

     Researchers from the University of Texas, San Antonio found cool dust around energetic active black holes during their observation from NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). 

Large galaxies has massive black holes at their center which are quiet like a black hole in the center of our Milkyway galaxy. The draw many materials and emit large amount of energy. They are called active galactic nuclei. SOFIA team have found 11 supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei which are located at a distance of 100 million light years from our Earth. They are of donut-shaped structure called Torus. This discovery has been published in the paper Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 

ABOUT SOFIA:

     SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP Jetliner modified to carry a 100-inch diameter telescope. It is a point projection of NASA and German Aerospace Center. NASA's Amnes Research center in California's Silicon Valley manages the SOFIA program. Science and Space mission operations are in cooperation with Universities Space Research Association headquartered in Columbia, Maryland and the German SOFIA Institute at the University of Stuttgart. The aircraft is based at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center's Hangar 703, in Palmdale, California.

Text Credit    : NASA  

Image Credit : SOFIA