What are Active Galaxies? main content.

What are Active Galaxies?

Part of Hall of the Universe.

What are active galaxies_HERO AMNH/D. Finnin

Exhibition Text

An active galaxy emits up to thousands of times more energy than a normal galaxy. Most of this energy is released not in visible light but in other wavelengths, from radio waves to gamma rays. In addition, long jets of gas can spew forth from the galaxy at nearly the speed of light. This activity is driven by a supermassive black hole in the galaxy’s nucleus.

For Educators

Topic: Astronomy

Subtopic: Galaxies

Keywords: Astrophysics, Active galaxies, Force and energy, Galaxies, Black holes (Astronomy)

Audience: General

 

Supermassive Black Holes

Supermassive black holes power active galaxies. No other known object could provide so much energy from so small a region. Ordinary black holes, which arise from the death of a single star, contain about ten times the Sun's mass. But supermassive black holes range from millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun. They are found at the centers of galaxies, and consume stars and gas clouds that wander too close.

Jet Formation

When stars and gas clouds spiral into a supermassive black hole, they typically form a rapidly rotating disk, jets develop when some of the material is flung off along magnetic fields that are perpendicular to the disk.