Space & Astronomy

NASA reveals discovery of 'TIE fighter' galaxy

By T.K. Randall
August 27, 2020 ·  1 comment

This galaxy has a familiar shape... Image Credit: NRAO Situated in the Cassiopeia constellation, this distant galaxy, which bears more than a passing resemblance to an Imperial TIE fighter from the Star Wars franchise, owes its unusual appearance to a supermassive black hole at its center which is bellowing out two huge jets of energy on either side.

Known formally as TXS 0128+554, the galaxy was observed by the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) as well as by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

"It's classified as an active galaxy, which means all its stars together can't account for the amount of light it emits," the space agency wrote in a release on its website."An active galaxy's extra energy includes excess radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray light."

"Scientists think this emission arises from regions near its central black hole, where a swirling disk of gas and dust accumulates and heats up because of gravitational and frictional forces."


Source: CNET.com | Comments (1)

Tags: Galaxy, Star Wars