Close-up: Rising Gas Bubble in Galaxy NGC 3079's Core | Hubble Space Telescope

Close-up: Rising Gas Bubble in Galaxy NGC 3079's Core | Hubble Space Telescope

This NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope snapshot reveals dramatic activities within the core of the galaxy NGC 3079, where a lumpy bubble of hot gas is rising from a cauldron of glowing matter. This picture shows the bubble in the center of the galaxy's disk. The structure is more than 3,000 light-years wide and rises 3, 500 light-years above the galaxy's disk.

These NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope snapshots reveal dramatic activities within the core of the galaxy NGC 3079, where a lumpy bubble of hot gas is rising from a cauldron of glowing matter. This structure is more than 3,000 light-years wide and rises 3, 500 light-years above the galaxy's disk. Astronomers suspect that the bubble is being blown by 'winds' (high-speed streams of particles) released during a burst of star formation. Gaseous filaments at the top of the bubble are whirling around in a vortex and are being expelled into space. Eventually, this gas will rain down upon the galaxy's disk where it may collide with gas clouds, compress them, and form a new generation of stars.

Distance: ~50 million light years

Credit: NASA/ESA, Gerald Cecil (University of North Carolina), Sylvain Veilleux (University of Maryland), Joss Bland-Hawthorn (Anglo-Australian Observatory), and Alex Filippenko (University of California at Berkeley)
Release Date: Aug. 16, 2001

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