Tag: Active Galaxies

NICER Status Updates

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April 17, 2025 Following Repair, NASA’s NICER Improves Daytime Measurements A NASA X-ray telescope on the International Space Station called NICER, or Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, has regained additional daytime observation capabilities thanks to repairs completed during a spacewalk and a reconfiguration of its detectors. In May 2023, NICER developed a light leak in which unwanted sunlight began entering the instrument. Photos taken from inside the space station revealed several small areas of damage to the telescope’s thin thermal shields, which block sunlight while allowing X-rays through to the…

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Astronomers Catch Unprecedented Features at Brink of Active Black Hole

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International teams of astronomers monitoring a supermassive black hole in the heart of a distant galaxy have detected features never seen before using data from NASA missions and other facilities. The features include the launch of a plasma jet moving at nearly one-third the speed of light and unusual, rapid X-ray fluctuations likely arising from near the very edge of the black hole. Radio images of 1ES 1927+654 reveal emerging structures that appear to be jets of plasma erupting from both sides of the galaxy’s central black hole following a…

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Hubble Glimpses a Bright Galaxy Group

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2 min read Hubble Glimpses a Bright Galaxy Group This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a tangled group of interacting galaxies called LEDA 60847. NASA/ESA/A. Barth (University of California – Irvine)/M. Koss (Eureka Scientific Inc.)/A. Robinson (Rochester Institute of Technology)/Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a group of interacting galaxies known as LEDA 60847. LEDA 60847 is classified as an active galactic nuclei, or AGN. An AGN has a supermassive black hole in the galaxy’s central region that is…

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