Optical Jet in Galaxy NGC 3862
A NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the central region of the galaxy NGC 3862 reveals a jet-like feature previously unseen in optical wavelengths. The image was taken with the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera in F196 mode at a wavelength of 3400 angstroms. The image's 0.06 arc second resolution reveals several knots and twists in the jet. The jet's full angular size is about 0.6 arc second, corresponding to a length of 740 light-years.
NGC 3862 is an elliptical galaxy in a rich cluster of galaxies known as Abell 1367, located at a distance of about 260 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. This new type of jet suggests that astronomers are seeing a new and unexpected phenomena in galactic nuclei.
Credit:
P. Crane (European Southern Observatory), and NASA/ESA
About the Image
NASA caption
| Id: | opo9214a |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 7 May 1992, 06:00 |
| Size: | 2213 x 2119 px |
About the Object
| Name: | NGC 3862 |
| Type: | • Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Elliptical • Galaxies Images/Videos |
| Distance: | 300 million light years |
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
| Ultraviolet U |
340 nm | Hubble Space Telescope FOC |
