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X-ray & Optical Images of SpARCS1049
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXO/Univ. of Montreal/J. Hlavacek-Larrondo et al; Optical/IR: NASA/STScI)
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXO/Univ. of Montreal/J. Hlavacek-Larrondo et al; Optical/IR: NASA/STScI)
These images of X-rays from Chandra and optical data from Hubble show a galaxy cluster with a black hole that has stopped being active. The consequences of this dormant black hole is that star formation has been allowed to run rampant — at a rate some 300 times that seen in the Milky Way galaxy. The Chandra data reveal that without a central supermassive black hole in the largest galaxy in the cluster, huge amounts of gas are able to cool enough to trigger a torrent of stellar birth.
Return to: Black Hole Fails to Do Its Job (August 3, 2020)
Revised: November 29, 2022