Abell 2597 (IMAGE)

Naval Research Laboratory

Abell 2597

Caption

Lurking in the heart of the galaxy cluster Abell 2597, located nearly one billion light years from Earth in the constellation Aquarius, astronomers track several massive gas clouds that are raining down on the central supermassive black hole. The complex cosmic weather, as illustrated in this artist's concept, includes condensed clouds of cold molecular gas in the galaxy core that cast shadows seen in the ALMA observations. These clouds condense out of the surrounding hot intracluster medium and fuel 'cold, chaotic' accretion (or feeding) of the central supermassive black hole. This fuel leads to massive outbursts that drive the powerful radio jets out into the surrounding medium.

Credit

NRAO/AUI/NSF; Dana Berry/SkyWorks; ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)

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