File:The whirling disc of NGC 4526.jpg

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Afrikaans: Uitsig op 'n imposante klein sterrestelsel genaamd NGC 4526, met opvallend donker stofbane wat gehul is in die stralekrans van 'n alomverspreide sterregloed. Hierdie beeld wat deur NASA/ESA se Hubble-ruimteteleskoop verkry is, toon een van die helderste lensvormige sterrestelsels, 'n kategorie iewers tussen spirale en elliptiese stelsels. Alhoewel hierdie sterrebeeld 'n gevoel van kalmte mag inboesem, is dit allesbehalwe. Dit het twee onlangse supernova-uitbarstings opgelewer, een in 1969 en 'n ander in 1994. Dis benewens bekend om die kolossale supermassiewe swartkolk in die spilpunt met 'n massa van 450 miljoen sonne. NGC 4526 behoort tot die Virgo-sterrestelselgroep, en grondgebaseerde waarnemings het aan die lig gebring dat 'n kwart daarvan skynbaar vinnigroterende gasskywe om hul spilpunte het. Die skouspelagtigste hiervan is juis NGC 4526, waarvan die draaiskyf van gas, stof en sterre tot op 'n unieke afstand van die spilpunt af uitdy, naamlik tot sowat 7% van die hele sterrestelselradius. Elemente van hierdie skyf beweeg ongelooflik vinnig, naamlik teen meer as 250 kilometer per sekonde. In die eerste aanwending van sodanige tegniek is die dinamika van hierdie snelle werwelstroom tewens aangewend vir die massabepaling van NGC 4526 se sentrale swartkolk. Hierdie beeld is verkry deur Hubble se Wyeveld Planetêre Kamera 2, en 'n weergawe daarvan is deur 'n deelnemer aan Hubble's Hidden Treasures, Judy Schmidt, vir die beeldverwerking-kompetisie ingeskryf. Dit was 'n inisiatief om liefhebbers van sterrekunde te betrek by die Hubble-argief, waardeur blootstelling verleen word aan pragtige beelde wat dusver nog nie deur die breër publiek besigtig kon word nie.
English: This neat little galaxy is known as NGC 4526. Its dark lanes of dust and bright diffuse glow make the galaxy appear to hang like a halo in the emptiness of space in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Although this image paints a picture of serenity, the galaxy is anything but. It is one of the brightest lenticular galaxies known, a category that lies somewhere between spirals and ellipticals. It has hosted two known supernova explosions, one in 1969 and another in 1994, and is known to have a colossal supermassive black hole at its centre that has the mass of 450 million Suns. NGC 4526 is part of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. Ground-based observations of galaxies in this cluster have revealed that a quarter of these galaxies seem to have rapidly rotating discs of gas at their centres. The most spectacular of these is this galaxy, NGC 4526, whose spinning disc of gas, dust, and stars reaches out uniquely far from its heart, spanning some 7% of the galaxy's entire radius. This disc is moving incredibly fast, spinning at more than 250 kilometres per second. The dynamics of this quickly whirling region were actually used to infer the mass of NGC 4526’s central black hole — a technique that had not been used before to constrain a galaxy’s central black hole. This image was taken using Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.  A version of this image was entered into the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt. Hidden Treasures was an initiative to invite astronomy enthusiasts to search the Hubble archive for stunning images that have never been seen by the general public.
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Source http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1442a/
Author

ESA/Hubble & NASA

Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt
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Captions

The rapidly rotating gas, dust and star disk of NGC 4526, spanning some 7% of the entire galaxy radius, enveloped in the glow of more distantly orbiting stars

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20 October 2014

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