A black hole in its host galaxy spotted 9.9 billion lightyears away

Black holes are known for their deadly effect on star formation, but this image suggests they may sometimes boost star making.

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Published: February 8, 2020 at 8:00 am

A composite of radio, optical and X-ray data, this image shows a black hole within a host galaxy (the pink spot near the centre) around 9.9 billion lightyears away.

A gigantic bubble of hot gas generated by the black hole is thought to have expanded and swept through four neighbouring galaxies, creating a shockwave that compressed cool gas, causing stars to form over one million lightyears away.

Image stats

ObservatoriesChandra X-Ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, Very Large Array

Release date 26 November 2019

Image creditNASA/CXC/INAF/R. Gilli et al.; Radio NRAO/VLA; Optical: NASA/STScI

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