\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNASA Finds \u2018Sideways\u2019 Black Hole Using Legacy Data, New Techniques\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/ngc5084-all-v3-chandra.png?w=1536\")
<\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\nImage showing the structure of galaxy NGC 5084, with data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory overlaid on a visible-light image of the galaxy. Chandra\u2019s data, shown in purple, revealed four plumes of hot gas emanating from a supermassive black hole rotating \u201ctipped over\u201d at the galaxy\u2019s core.<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCredits: <\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tX-ray:\u00a0NASA\/CXC, A. S. Borlaff, P. Marcum et al.;\u00a0Optical full image:\u00a0M. Pugh, B. Diaz;\u00a0Image Processing:\u00a0NASA\/USRA\/L. Proudfit<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\nLee esta historia en espa\u00f1ol\u00a0aqu\u00ed<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\nNASA researchers have discovered a perplexing case of a black hole that appears to be \u201ctipped over,\u201d rotating in an unexpected direction relative to the galaxy surrounding it. That galaxy, called NGC 5084, has been known for years, but the sideways secret of its central black hole lay hidden in old data archives. The discovery was made possible by new image analysis techniques developed at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley to take a fresh look at archival data from the agency\u2019s Chandra X-ray Observatory.<\/p>\n
Using the new methods, astronomers at Ames unexpectedly found four long plumes of plasma \u2013 hot, charged gas \u2013 emanating from NGC 5084. One pair of plumes extends above and below the plane of the galaxy. A surprising second pair, forming an \u201cX\u201d shape with the first, lies in the galaxy plane itself. Hot gas plumes are not often spotted in galaxies, and typically only one or two are present.<\/p>\n
The method revealing such unexpected characteristics for galaxy NGC 5084 was developed by Ames research scientist Alejandro Serrano Borlaff and colleagues to detect low-brightness X-ray emissions in data from the world\u2019s most powerful X-ray telescope<\/a>. What they saw in the Chandra data seemed so strange that they immediately looked to confirm it, digging into the data archives of other telescopes and requesting new observations from two powerful ground-based observatories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/ngc5084-aligned-hst-closer-dec2024-darker-contrast-cropped.png?w=512\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nHubble Space Telescope image of galaxy NGC 5084\u2019s core. A dark, vertical line near the center shows the curve of a dusty disk orbiting the core, whose presence suggests a supermassive black hole within. The disk and black hole share the same orientation, fully tipped over from the horizontal orientation of the galaxy.<\/div>\nNASA\/STScI, M. A. Malkan, B. Boizelle,\u00a0A.S. Borlaff.\u00a0HST WFPC2, WFC3\/IR\/UVIS.\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe surprising second set of plumes was a strong clue this galaxy housed a supermassive black hole, but there could have been other explanations. Archived data from NASA\u2019s Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile then revealed another quirk of NGC 5084: a small, dusty, inner disk turning about the center of the galaxy. This, too, suggested the presence of a black hole there, and, surprisingly, it rotates at a 90-degree angle to the rotation of the galaxy overall; the disk and black hole are, in a sense, lying on their sides.<\/p>\n
The follow-up analyses of NGC 5084 allowed the researchers to examine the same galaxy using a broad swath of the electromagnetic spectrum<\/a> \u2013 from visible light, seen by Hubble, to longer wavelengths observed by ALMA and the Expanded Very Large Array of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory near Socorro, New Mexico.<\/p>\n\u201cIt was like seeing a crime scene with multiple types of light,\u201d said Borlaff, who is also the first author on the paper reporting the discovery. \u201cPutting all the pictures together revealed that NGC 5084 has changed a lot in its recent past.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\tX-ray:\u00a0NASA\/CXC, A. S. Borlaff, P. Marcum et al.;\u00a0Optical full image:\u00a0M. Pugh, B. Diaz;\u00a0Image Processing:\u00a0NASA\/USRA\/L. Proudfit<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Lee esta historia en espa\u00f1ol\u00a0aqu\u00ed<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n NASA researchers have discovered a perplexing case of a black hole that appears to be \u201ctipped over,\u201d rotating in an unexpected direction relative to the galaxy surrounding it. That galaxy, called NGC 5084, has been known for years, but the sideways secret of its central black hole lay hidden in old data archives. The discovery was made possible by new image analysis techniques developed at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley to take a fresh look at archival data from the agency\u2019s Chandra X-ray Observatory.<\/p>\n Using the new methods, astronomers at Ames unexpectedly found four long plumes of plasma \u2013 hot, charged gas \u2013 emanating from NGC 5084. One pair of plumes extends above and below the plane of the galaxy. A surprising second pair, forming an \u201cX\u201d shape with the first, lies in the galaxy plane itself. Hot gas plumes are not often spotted in galaxies, and typically only one or two are present.<\/p>\n The method revealing such unexpected characteristics for galaxy NGC 5084 was developed by Ames research scientist Alejandro Serrano Borlaff and colleagues to detect low-brightness X-ray emissions in data from the world\u2019s most powerful X-ray telescope<\/a>. What they saw in the Chandra data seemed so strange that they immediately looked to confirm it, digging into the data archives of other telescopes and requesting new observations from two powerful ground-based observatories.<\/p>\n The surprising second set of plumes was a strong clue this galaxy housed a supermassive black hole, but there could have been other explanations. Archived data from NASA\u2019s Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile then revealed another quirk of NGC 5084: a small, dusty, inner disk turning about the center of the galaxy. This, too, suggested the presence of a black hole there, and, surprisingly, it rotates at a 90-degree angle to the rotation of the galaxy overall; the disk and black hole are, in a sense, lying on their sides.<\/p>\n The follow-up analyses of NGC 5084 allowed the researchers to examine the same galaxy using a broad swath of the electromagnetic spectrum<\/a> \u2013 from visible light, seen by Hubble, to longer wavelengths observed by ALMA and the Expanded Very Large Array of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory near Socorro, New Mexico.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like seeing a crime scene with multiple types of light,\u201d said Borlaff, who is also the first author on the paper reporting the discovery. \u201cPutting all the pictures together revealed that NGC 5084 has changed a lot in its recent past.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/figure>