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X-ray & Optical Images of RGG 118
The smallest supermassive black hole ever detected in the center of a galaxy has been identified using observations with Chandra and the 6.5-meter Clay Telescope. The host galaxy for the tiny heavyweight black hole is a dwarf disk galaxy called RGG 118, shown in an image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The Chandra image of the galaxy's center shows hot gas near the black hole. This oxymoronic object could provide clues to how much larger black holes formed along with their host galaxies 13 billion years or more in the past.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Michigan/V.F.Baldassare, et al; Optical: SDSS)
The smallest supermassive black hole ever detected in the center of a galaxy has been identified using observations with Chandra and the 6.5-meter Clay Telescope. The host galaxy for the tiny heavyweight black hole is a dwarf disk galaxy called RGG 118, shown in an image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The Chandra image of the galaxy's center shows hot gas near the black hole. This oxymoronic object could provide clues to how much larger black holes formed along with their host galaxies 13 billion years or more in the past.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Michigan/V.F.Baldassare, et al; Optical: SDSS)
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Illustration of RGG 118
An artist's conception shows a black hole surrounded by a disk of hot gas, and a large doughnut or torus of cooler gas and dust. The light blue ring on the back of the torus is due to the fluorescence of iron atoms excited by X-rays from the hot gas disk.
(Credit: Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
An artist's conception shows a black hole surrounded by a disk of hot gas, and a large doughnut or torus of cooler gas and dust. The light blue ring on the back of the torus is due to the fluorescence of iron atoms excited by X-rays from the hot gas disk.
(Credit: Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
Return to RGG 118 (August 11, 2015)
Revised: November 29, 2022