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SDSS J1254+0846: Quasar Pair Captured in Galaxy Collision
SDSS J1254+0846
SDSS J1254+0846
Visual Description:

  • Quasars are some of the most luminous objects in the Universe.

  • The system SDSS 1254+0846 has a pair of them -- the first time this has been seen.

  • This double quasar is likely the result of a merger of two galaxies.

This composite image shows the effects of two galaxies caught in the act of merging. A Chandra X-ray Observatory image shows a pair of quasars in blue, located about 4.6 billion light years away, but separated on the sky by only about 70 thousand light years. These bright sources, collectively called SDSS J1254+0846, are powered by material falling onto supermassive black holes. An optical image from the Baade-Magellan telescope in Chile, in yellow, shows tidal tails - gravitational-stripped streamers of stars and gas -- fanning out from the two colliding galaxies.

This represents the first time a luminous pair of quasars has been clearly seen in an ongoing galaxy merger. "Quasars are the most luminous compact objects in the Universe, and though about a million of them are now known, it's incredibly hard work to find two quasars side by side," said Paul Green, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA, who led the study.

This pair of quasars was first detected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a large-scale astronomical survey of galaxies and quasars. They were observed with the Magellan telescope to determine whether the quasars were close enough to show clear signs of interactions between their host galaxies. "The tidal tails fanning out from the galaxies that we see in the optical image are a sure sign, the litmus test of an ongoing galaxy merger," said Green.

This result represents strong evidence for the prediction that a pair of quasars would be triggered during a merger. The galaxy disks both appear to be nearly face-on to Earth, which may explain why the X-rays from Chandra show no signs of absorption by intervening gas or dust.

Visual Description:

The composite image of the pair of quasars in merging galaxies, SDSS J1254+0846 showcases two bright bluish-green objects that appear to be interacting with each other, which are actually two supermassive black holes in the process of merging. They look like googly eyes with the left eye slightly larger. On either side of the eyes are curved brownish-yellow arms and a sprinkling of various yellow and white blobs and dots. The Chandra X-ray Observatory image shows the pair of quasars in blue, located about 4.6 billion light years away, but separated on the sky by only about 70 thousand light years. These bright sources, collectively called SDSS J1254+0846, are powered by material falling onto supermassive black holes. The optical image from the Baade-Magellan telescope in Chile, in yellow, shows tidal tails — gravitational-stripped streamers of stars and gas — fanning out from the two colliding galaxies.

 

Fast Facts for SDSS J1254+0846:
Credit  X-ray (NASA/CXC/SAO/P. Green et al.), Optical (Carnegie Obs./Magellan/W.Baade Telescope/J.S.Mulchaey et al.)
Release Date  February 3, 2010
Scale  Image is 1 arcmin across.
Category  Quasars & Active Galaxies
Coordinates (J2000)  RA 12h 54m 54.90s | Dec +08° 46´ 52.30"
Constellation  Virgo
Observation Date  02/23/2009
Observation Time  4.5 hours
Obs. ID  10315
Instrument  ACIS
References P.Green et al, 2010, ApJ, 710, 1578
Color Code  X-ray (blue); Optical (yellow)
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X-ray
Distance Estimate  About 4.6 billion light years
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