Explanation:
Active
galaxy NGC 1275 is the central, dominant member of the large and
relatively nearby
Perseus Cluster of Galaxies.
Wild-looking at visible wavelengths, the active galaxy is also a
prodigious source of
x-rays
and
radio
emission.
NGC 1275 accretes
matter as entire galaxies fall into it, ultimately
feeding a supermassive black hole at the galaxy's core.
This color composite image, recreated from
archival Hubble Space Telescope data,
highlights the resulting galactic debris
and filaments of glowing gas,
some up to 20,000 light-years long.
The filaments persist in NGC 1275, even though
the turmoil of galactic collisions should destroy them.
What keeps the filaments together?
Observations
indicate that the structures, pushed out
from the galaxy's center by the black hole's activity, are
held together by magnetic fields.
Also known as Perseus A,
NGC 1275
spans over 100,000 light years and
lies about 230 million light years away.
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