Magnetic mystery of NGC 1275 revealed

Here are press materials for the press release of the Nature paper Magnetic support of the optical emission line filaments in NGC 1275, published on the 21st August 2008. Also see arXiv:0808.2712.

• NASA/ESA press release: pdf, word
• Cambridge University press release (pdf format)
• Space Telescope Press Release page
• Nature accepted paper (pdf format)
• Nature paper supplementary notes/figures (pdf format)

Images

Picture credits should be Fabian et al/ESA/NASA.

• The delicate network of filaments surrounding the galaxy NGC 1275 (in red), and (in blue) star clusters. Strong magnetic fields are able to contain these filaments, stopping them evaporating in their million degree surroundings, or from immediately forming stars.
  
• Images of the filaments where the smooth light from the galaxy has been subtracted away. The centre of the galaxy hosts a giant supermassive black hole, which blows bubbles of hot gas, dragging the filaments out behind them.
  
• Close up of the "blue loop". Stars (in blue) are able to form along the filaments here (in red), but this is only occurs in some places in the filament system. Magnetic fields are thought to stop this occurring.
  
• The complex structure of part of the filament system seen against the light of the surrounding galaxy.
  
• The filaments (in red) and the stars (in blue), after the smooth light from the galaxy has been removed. Stars are formed in some of the filament system (down to the bottom left), but not most of it. The streak of stars to the top of the figure are due to another galaxy colliding with the galaxy cluster.
  
• The massive radio bubbles blown by the central black hole (the diffuse red blobs) push aside the hot X-ray emitting gas (in blue), dragging out the filaments behind them (the fine red features).
  
• The filaments (in red) and stars (in blue) after the smooth light from the galaxy has been removed.
  
• Close up of the stars (in blue) and filaments (in red) in two parts of the system.
  

Miscellaneous Images

These are other figures taken from the paper.

• Comparison of new Hubble image (left) with ground-based image (right).
  
• Close up of the "Horseshoe" filament region. Here the filaments are marking the flow of the hot multi-million degree intracluster medium behind a rising bubble.
  
• Comparison of the X-ray emission (green) with the filaments (red). The X-ray gas is several tens of million degrees hot, but the 1000s of degree filaments are able to survive in this material. The holes in the X-ray emission are occupied by the bubbles of relativistic particles blown by the black hole. Note that there is also gas (plasma) at millions of degrees and hundreds of degrees with the optical emitting filaments.
  
• Close ups of several different filament regions.
  
• Comparison of width of filaments with the width of stars in the image. The filaments are wider than the unresolved stars, meaning that we resolve them and can measure their width.
  

X-ray Images

• Chandra X-ray image of the core of the Perseus cluster. The radio bubbles from the supermassive black hole in the centre of the cluster displace the X-ray emitting gas, leading to the four cavities in the image.
  

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