Researchers are finding actively feeding black holes with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The galaxy J1140-2629, or the Spiderweb galaxy, sits at the center of a forming galaxy cluster. Chandra peered at this region for eight days and discovered fourteen actively feeding galaxies in this region, which is just 11.3 million light-years across. These systems are coming together at the same point in the universe’s history as when those starburst galaxies were also being found. Just like starbursts can be caused through collisions, dust and gas can be sent cascading into the centers of galaxies where they can feed black holes.

We don’t know if collisions are triggering any of these systems for sure, but it is intriguing to think about. To get to the bottom of why so many galaxies are so active, the team will be pouring through HST data to see what can be seen. They will also be using Chandra to observe additional galaxy clusters in the process of forming.

These newly discovered active black holes are described in a new paper in Astronomy & Astrophysics led by Paolo Tozzi.

More Information

CXO press release

NASA press release

“The 700 ks Chandra Spiderweb Field I: evidence for widespread nuclear activity in the Protocluster,” P. Tozzi et al., to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics (preprint on arxiv.org)