The Hubble House Telescope lately captured this charming picture of the lenticular galaxy NGC 3489, positioned some 30 million light-years away within the constellation Leo the Lion.
Lenticular galaxies are disk-shaped galaxies that skirt the road between spirals and ellipticals. In contrast to ellipticals, lenticulars do present some inner construction, internet hosting distinct central bulges surrounded by skinny disks of stars. However in contrast to spirals, lenticulars don’t show full-fledged spiral arms which can be bursting with star formation. As an alternative, lenticulars like NGC 3489 are dwelling to principally older and getting old populations of stars.
However regardless of its dearth of recent stars, NGC 3489 nonetheless sees a variety of exercise. Like most (if not all) giant galaxies, NGC 3489 hosts a supermassive black hole at its core. And this black hole is busy.
NGC 3489 is dwelling to what astronomers name an active galactic nucleus (AGN). An AGN is a particularly vibrant galactic core that’s powered by matter swirling round a galaxy’s supermassive black hole. This maelstrom of matter is named an accretion disk, and this superheated disk is what’s answerable for emitting copious mild throughout the whole electromagnetic spectrum.
