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XMM-Newton
peers into the heart of an active galaxy and spots
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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 |
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| 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) |