XMM-Newton peers into the heart of an active galaxy and spots
a supermassive black hole

 

NGC 6300
NGC 6300 is a nearby active galaxy powered by material accreting onto a supermassive black hole with mass up to 10 billion times the mass of the sun. This galaxy has a ringed, barred, spiral structure and is identified as a bright Seyfert 2 galaxy located in the constellation Altar. The highest energy X-ray emission is coming from the nucleus of the galaxy while the lowest energy X-rays show diffuse emission in the spiral arms. Optical images of NGC 6300 (like HST) show a lot of absorption due to dust in the region of low soft X-ray emission. This image is a composition of the 2-10keV(hard), 1-2keV (medium) and 0.1-1keV (soft) X-ray emission bands.
Fast Facts for NGC 6300
Object Description: Ringed, barred, spiral galaxy.
Position (J200):

RA: 17h 16m 59.22s

Dec: -62d 49m 11.2s

Constellation: Altar
Distance: 18 Mpc
Scale/Dimensions: 563 x 563 arcseconds
Instrument: Mos1 and Mos2
Exposure Date: March 2, 2001
Color Code: 2-10keV(blue), 1-2keV(green), and 0.1-1keV(red)
Principal Astronomers: L.A. Maddox (Univ. of OK), K.M. Leighly (Univ. of OK), A. Nava (Univ. of OK), C. Matsumoto (Univ. of OK), and D.Grupe (Ohio State Univ.)
Image Credit:

L.A. Maddox(Univ. of OK), K.M. Leighly(Univ. of OK),and Tiffany Borders (Sonoma State University)