Active Spiral Galaxy Messier 77 in Cetus | Subaru Telescope

Active Spiral Galaxy Messier 77 in Cetus | Subaru Telescope

Messier 77 (M77 or NGC 1068) is a spiral galaxy located relatively close to our Milky Way. At its center lies a supermassive black hole about 10 million times the mass of the Sun. As enormous amounts of energy are released around the black hole, M77 is known as an active galaxy. The galaxy belongs to a class known as Seyfert galaxies. They have highly ionized gas surrounding an intensely active center.

Because of its proximity, M77 has been extensively studied across the electromagnetic spectrum, from X-rays to radio waves, using various telescopes, including the Subaru Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Recently, observations with the Subaru Telescope's Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) have revealed evidence that M77 experienced a previously hidden minor merger with a low-mass satellite galaxy billions of years ago.

Distance from Earth: around 48 million light-years

Learn more about Japan's Subaru Telescope in Hawaii: 
https://subarutelescope.org/en/

Credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)/SDSS/David Hogg/Michael Blanton. Image Processing: Ichi Tanaka

Release Date: July 22, 2026

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxies #ActiveGalaxies #SeyfertGalaxies #SquidGalaxy #Messier77 #SpiralGalaxies #InteractingGalaxies #CetusConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #SubaruTelescope #すばる望遠鏡 #SubaruHSC #NAOJ #国立天文台 #HyperSuprimeCam #HSC #Japan #日本 #MaunaKea #Hawaii #UnitedStates #STEM #Education