NASA Discovers Active Galaxy That Looks Like It Belongs In ‘Star Wars’ Universe
Illustration via NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA offered an in-depth view into the young galaxy TXS 0128+554 on Tuesday, and even highlighted its similarities to a Star Wars’ TIE fighter spacecraft.
The galaxy, located 500 million light-years away, has a supermassive black hole at its core and is shooting out two jets of energy on the sides. NASA pointed out the galaxy’s evident resemblance to the starfighter through the space telescope Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) network’s image.
“Our Fermi telescope spotted the galaxy, then radio observations found that it seemed to be cosplaying as Darth Vader’s TIE fighter,” the space agency described the galaxy.
The image was formed through the radio signals emanating from the galaxy at 15.4 gigahertz. The colors reflect the radio signal’s intensity, from low (purple) to high (yellow).
The research team investigating the galaxy has published a paper with its findings in The Astrophysical Journal.
The team noted its observations using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory to develop a clearer picture of the galaxy. View the VLBA image, as well as the illustrations depicting TXS 0128+554, below.
Galaxy TXS 0128+554 may be a bit of a @StarWars fan ... Our Fermi telescope spotted the galaxy, then radio observations found that it seemed to be cosplaying as Darth Vader’s TIE fighter.https://t.co/Sr8qSeFCpx pic.twitter.com/k7TJmZj1zc
— NASA Goddard (@NASAGoddard) August 25, 2020
NASA Missions Explore a ‘TIE Fighter’ Active Galaxy
— Alexandre H.L. Porto (@xandaolp) August 25, 2020
Image credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centerhttps://t.co/T7Ncw4ktyB via @NASA pic.twitter.com/MRhxYcBLwm
[via CNET, cover image via NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center ]
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