Sample Galaxies in Black Hole Survey (IMAGE)

Chandra X-ray Center

Sample Galaxies in Black Hole Survey

Caption

The galaxy on the left, Abell 644, is in the center of a cluster of galaxies. The right panel contains SDSS J1021+131, a so-called field galaxy because it is isolated. Both images are composites with data from Chandra (blue) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (red, green, blue). A survey of these and hundreds of other galaxies tells scientists how often the biggest black holes in field galaxies like SDSS J1021+131 have been active over the last few billion years. This has important implications for how environment affects black hole growth.

Credit

X-ray: NASA/CXC/Northwestern Univ/D.Haggard et al. Optical: SDSS

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