It is confirmed that there are galaxies with a structure similar to that of Russian dolls



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A galactic structure reminiscent of the matrioskas will help understand the internal evolution of galaxies and how they feed the supermbadive black holes that inhabit their centers. The galaxy in question, NGC 1291, contains a Russian doll-like structure consisting of two starbars, with a repeating pattern both outside and inside the galaxy.

The French astronomer Gerard De Vaucoleurs discovered in this galaxy the first system in which two star bars coexist and identifies a motive that he called "objective-bar-bar" and which has has been repeated in the outer and inner parts of the galaxy.

It is in this galaxy that it has been demonstrated, for the first time, the presence of a peanut-shaped structure, or X, in its inner bar, created by the vertical motions of the stars in the bar and which owe their name to their square shape or peanut seen in galaxies Singing views. However, until now, these structures have only been detected in the outer bars of double systems or in individual bars such as the one of the Milky Way. The data was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).

IAC

New observations were made with the MUSE instrument, installed in the very large telescope (VLT), showed that peanut-shaped structures can also be formed in internal bars. "This is important because it shows that some galaxies are like Russian dolls, with internal structures identical to external structures, simply of different size." In addition, these results also confirmed that the inner bar follows the same evolutionary path as the outer bar, "says Jairo Méndez Abreu, a researcher at the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC) and senior author of

as part of the international TIMER project, involving three IAC researchers. "The presence of an X-shaped structure in the internal bar of NGC 1291 implies that It can be about stable structures that last for billions of years, "adds Adriana de Lorenzo-Cáceres, researcher at IAC and second author of the publication. they would have more time to bring gas to the center of the galaxy and support its function of feeding supermbadive black holes, although this has not yet been confirmed by observations.

Beatriz de Vera

This information was originally published in N + 1, a science that adds up.

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