NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.
Dec. 4, 2015
Like a lighthouse in the fog, the luminous core of NGC 2768 slowly fades outwards to a dull white haze in this image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
NGC 2768 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear). It is a huge bundle of stars, dominated by a bright central region, where a supermassive black hole feasts on a constant stream of gas and dust being fed to it by its galactic host.
The galaxy is also marked by a prominent plume of dust reaching out from the center and lying perpendicular to the galaxy’s plane. This dust conceals a symmetrical, S-shaped pair of jets that are being produced by the supermassive black hole as it feeds.
For images and more information about Hubble, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/hubble and http://hubblesite.org/ and http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Image Credits: ESA/Hubble, NASA and S. Smartt (Queen's University Belfast)/Text credit: European Space Agency/Ashley Morrow.
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