NGC 7469 is a really luminous, face-on barred spiral galaxy roughly 90,000 light-years in diameter.
This Webb picture exhibits NGC 7469, a barred spiral galaxy some 206 million light-years away within the constellation of Pegasus. The galaxy has blue-purple hues with orange-red areas stuffed with stars. NGC 7469’s companion galaxy, IC 5283, is partly seen within the decrease left portion of this picture. Additionally seen is giant diffraction spike, which seems as a star sample over the central area of the galaxy. Numerous stars and galaxies fill the background scene. Picture credit score: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / L. Armus / A.S. Evans.
NGC 7469 is positioned roughly 206 million light-years away within the constellation of Pegasus.
Also referred to as LEDA 70348 or Mrk 1514, the galaxy has a diameter of 90,000 light-years.
First found on November 12, 1784 by the German-born British astronomer William Herschel, it is usually labeled as Seyfert galaxy.
NGC 7469 hosts to an energetic supermassive black gap and a circumnuclear starburst ring with a radius of 500 parsecs (1,631 light-years).
Along with its smaller spiral companion, IC 5283, it varieties the galaxy pair Arp 298.
“NGC 7469 is dwelling to an energetic galactic nucleus (AGN), which is an especially brilliant central area that’s dominated by the sunshine emitted by mud and fuel because it falls into the galaxy’s central black gap,” Webb astronomers stated.
“This galaxy offers us with the distinctive alternative to review the connection between AGNs and starburst exercise as a result of this explicit object hosts an AGN that’s surrounded by a starburst ring at a distance of a mere 1,600 light-years.”
“Whereas NGC 7469 is without doubt one of the greatest studied AGNs within the sky, the compact nature of this technique and the presence of an excessive amount of mud have made it tough for us to realize each the decision and sensitivity wanted to review this relationship within the infrared.”
“Now, with Webb, we are able to discover the galaxy’s starburst ring, the central AGN, and the fuel and dirt in between.”
Utilizing Webb’s MIRI, NIRCam and NIRspec devices to acquire pictures and spectra of NGC 7469 in unprecedented element, the astronomers uncovered numerous particulars concerning the object.
“This contains very younger star-forming clusters by no means seen earlier than, in addition to pockets of very heat, turbulent molecular fuel, and direct proof for the destruction of small mud grains inside a couple of hundred light-years of the nucleus — proving that the AGN is impacting the encompassing interstellar medium,” they stated.
“Moreover, extremely ionized, diffuse atomic fuel appears to be exiting the nucleus at roughly 6.4 million km per hour (4 million mph) — a part of a galactic outflow that had beforehand been recognized, however is now revealed in beautiful element with Webb.”
“With evaluation of the wealthy Webb datasets nonetheless underway, extra secrets and techniques of this native AGN and starburst laboratory are certain to be revealed.”
