ESOcast 122 Light: Supermassive Black Holes Feed on Cosmic Jellyfish (4K UHD)

Observations of “Jellyfish galaxies” with ESO’s Very Large Telescope have revealed a previously unknown way to fuel supermassive black holes. It seems the mechanism that produces the tentacles of gas and newborn stars that give these galaxies their nickname also makes it possible for the gas to reach the central regions of the galaxies, feeding the black hole that lurks in each of them and causing it to shine brilliantly.

This quick video explains the main points.

The video is available in 4K UHD.

The ESOcast Light is a series of short videos bringing you the wonders of the Universe in bite-sized pieces. The ESOcast Light episodes will not be replacing the standard, longer ESOcasts, but complement them with current astronomy news and images in ESO press releases.

Credit:

ESO.

Visual Design and Editing: Nico Bartmann.
Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida.
Written by: Izumi Hansen and Richard Hook.
Music: tonelabs (http://www.tonelabs.com).
Footage and photos: ESO, A. Tudorica, NASA, ESA, M. Kornmesser, L. Calçada, F. Kamphues, Callum Bellhouse and the GASP collaboration.
Directed by: Nico Bartmann.
Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.

About the Video

Id:eso1725a
Release date:16 August 2017, 19:00
Related releases:eso1725
Duration:01 m 35 s
Frame rate:30 fps

About the Object

Type:Local Universe : Galaxy
Category:ESOcast

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