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Arming a Galaxy
Featured on April 5, 2020
An extra set of spiral arms glows bright red in this composite image of Messier 106, a spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs. M106 is the largest of four bright galaxies visible in one quadrant of the constellation. A supermassive black hole sits at the center of the galaxy. Radiation from a disk of hot gas that encircles the black hole sets off a chain of events that produces the extra set of spiral arms (which look red because of their hydrogen gas), which wrap above the galaxy’s bright disk. This view consists of Hubble Space Telescope images combined with wider views from small ground-based telescopes. [NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)/R. Gendler]
