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Since their discovery in the late 1950s, light beams of galactic light called quasars – distant objects emitting a bright light in the cosmos – intrigued astronomers. However, a new study shed more light on mysterious cosmic objects and helped settle a 20-year-old astronomical debate.
Quasars are galactic nuclei located in the center of host galaxies. Their light is powered by supermassive black holesand reach a brightness equivalent to 600 trillion suns.
For decades, scientists have wondered whether a Seyfert galaxy – a galaxy class known to have a quasar-like core – was of one or two types. Using the The Hubble Space Telescope To observe a Seyfert galaxy meeting the criteria of both types, a team of researchers discovered that such a galaxy is actually a class of objects, according to one declaration by the University of California at Santa Barbara.
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The main distinction between the two types of galaxies alleged was that type 1 Seyfert galaxies produced large additional light peaks, whereas Seyfert galaxies type 2 missed these summits, continues the statement.
However, the team of researchers behind the new study suggested that they were in fact the same objects, but that they were seen from different angles, with a ring of dust masking the inner part of it. considered to be type 2 galaxies. By examining the core center of a type 2 Seyfert galaxy, called NGC 3147, scientists were able to find the large missing peaks of light.
The scientists first examined the center of the galaxy using X-ray soundings and found no ring of dust or emission lines. However, in recent sightings, they zoomed in on the center with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope and found the region's broad lines of emission, but they had been submerged by the light of the surrounding stars.
"The most important thing for astronomers is to prune this dead branch," said Robert Antonucci, professor of physics at the University of Santa Barbara, co-author of the study.
The researchers plan to continue to observe the NGC 3147 for further examination of the center and to confirm their earlier observations.
The study was published on July 11 in the Monthly Notices from the Royal Astronomical Society.
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