James Webb Telescope captures gorgeous galaxy with a hungry monster at its heart

By Georgina Torbet Published August 10, 2024

A new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows off a nearby galaxy called Messier 106 — a spiral galaxy that is particularly bright. At just 23 million light-years away (that’s relatively close by galactic standards), this galaxy is of particular interest to astronomers due to its bustling central region, called an active galactic nucleus.

The high level of activity in this central region is thought to be due to the monster that lurks at the galaxy’s heart. Like most galaxies including our own, Messier 106 has an enormous black hole called a supermassive black hole at its center. However, the supermassive black hole in Messier 106 is particularly active, gobbling up material like dust and gas from the surrounding area. In fact, this black hole eats so much matter that as it spins, it warps the disk of gas around it, which creates streamers of gas flying out from this central region.

“The galaxy has a remarkable feature – it is known to have two ‘anomalous’ extra arms visible in radio and X-ray wavelengths, rather than in the visible,” Webb astronomers explain. “Unlike the normal arms, these are composed of hot gas instead of stars. Astronomers believe these extra arms result from the black hole’s activity, a feedback effect seen in other galaxies as well. They are likely caused by outflowing material produced by the violent churning of gas around the black hole, creating a phenomenon analogous to a wave crashing up out of the ocean when it hits a rock near the shore.”

In the full version of the image, which was taken using Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam), you can see the active galactic nucleus in the center in blueish white colors, surrounded by orange and red regions representing warm gas. The green and yellow regions are the extra arms of the galaxy created by the dramatic gas outflows. The center glows brightly as the material being eaten by the black hole causes the gas to spiral in toward it, creating friction and making it so hot that it glows, as seen here in the infrared.