Hobbies And Interests
Centaurus A
NGC 5128, or Centaurus A, is a giant elliptical galaxy 12 million light years away. It is the nearest elliptical galaxy to the Milky Way. Centaurus A was discovered by James Dunlop at the Parramatta observatory in Australia on August 4, 1826. Like the Milky Way, Centaurus A contains a supermassive black hole at its center, millions of times more massive than our sun.
NGC 4150
Astronomers recently uncovered new information about giant elliptical galaxies by studying NGC 4150 with the Hubble Space Telescope. Elliptical galaxies are flush with stars, but for a time it was believed the giants created their stars in mass quantities billions of years ago. Images accompanying a study of NGC 4150 in 2010 show that may not be the case. The images reveal not only large strands of dust and gas, but also blue stars---young stars that are undoubtedly less than a billion years old. This discovery is significant because it may mean giant elliptical galaxies are creating new stars, and those new stars may create new life in burgeoning galaxies.
M87
This giant elliptical galaxy was host to an interesting development in late 2010 and early 2011, when a team of astronomers measured the black hole at its center, the largest black hole in our relative cosmic neighborhood. The black hole at the center of M87 has the mass of 6.6 billion suns, and astronomers hope that, because of its size and proximity to the Milky Way, it may be the first black hole we actually see rather than conceptualize.
Massive Spiral
Though not a giant elliptical galaxy, ISOHDFS 27 is important because it is the largest spiral galaxy in the known universe. This spiral is located about 6 billion light years away, and has a mass about four times that of the Milky Way. Noting the sizes of spiral galaxies as well as elliptical galaxies is crucial to understanding star formation within galaxies and the development of galaxies themselves.