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NGC 3079:
Superwind Sculpts Filamentary Features
Chandra's X-ray image (blue) has been combined with Hubble's optical
image (red and green) to compose this stunning and revealing picture of
the spiral galaxy NGC 3079. Towering filaments consisting of warm
(about ten thousand degrees Celsius) and hot (about ten million degrees
Celsius) gas blend to create the bright horseshoe-shaped feature near
the center.
The correlation of the warm and hot filaments suggests that they were
both formed as a superwind of gas -- rushing out from the central
regions of the galaxy -- carved a cavity in the cool gas of disk
galactic disk. The superwind stripped fragments of gas off the walls of
the cavity, stretched them into long filaments, and heated them. The
full extent of the superwind shows up as a fainter conical cloud of
X-ray emission surrounding the filaments.
A superwind, such as the one in NGC 3079 originates in the center of the
galaxy, either from activity generated by a central supermassive black
hole, or by a burst of supernova activity. Superwinds are thought to
play a key role in the evolution of galaxies by regulating the formation
of new stars, and by dispersing heavy elements to the outer parts of the
galaxy and beyond. These latest Chandra data indicate that astronomers
may be seriously underestimating the mass lost in superwinds and therefore their influence within and around the host galaxy.
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Fast Facts for
NGC 3079:
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Credit
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NASA/CXC/STScI/U.North Carolina/G.Cecil
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Scale
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Full field is 1.25 x 3 arcmin; Inset box is .5 arcmin per side
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Category
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Normal Galaxies & Starburst Galaxies
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Coordinates
(J2000)
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RA 10h 01m 57.80s | Dec +55º 40' 47.10"
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Constellation
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Ursa Major
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Observation
Date
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March 07, 2001
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Observation
Time
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7 hours
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Obs.
ID
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2038
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Color
Code
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X-ray (blue), Optical (red & green)
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Instrument
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ACIS
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Distance
Estimate
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55 million light years
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Release Date
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February 19, 2003
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