Poster Version
This plot of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals vast
reservoirs of hot gas in a galaxy about a billion light-years away called
3C 326 North. The gas is hot both figuratively and literally: it was
stolen from another galaxy, and, during its transfer from one galaxy to
another, it was heated up to hot-lava temperatures as high as 730 degrees
Celsius (1,340 degrees Fahrenheit).
The data were taken by Spitzer's infrared spectrometer, which splits light
apart into its constituent wavelengths much like a prism turns sunlight
into a rainbow. The resulting bumps and wiggles shown here, called a
spectrum, reveal the signature, or "fingerprint," of a hot, molecular
hydrogen gas. In space, molecular hydrogen gas is a precious commodity: it
is a necessary ingredient to make stars and planets. On Earth, this same
gas is considered as a possible alternative fuel for cars.
The strength of the hydrogen fingerprint also tells astronomers that a lot
is present in the galaxy - the equivalent of one billion suns!
Astronomers were initially surprised to see so much gas because the galaxy
is not busy making stars, as indicated by the weak signature in this
spectrum of a star-forming molecule called polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons. Further investigations revealed that the gas is being ripped
off from a smaller, companion galaxy.
The weak signatures for neon, oxygen and iron in the spectrum indicate
that the supermassive black hole at the center of this galaxy is
relatively inactive, or sleepy.
