NASA finds active 'Star Wars' galaxy in deep space
The galaxy is 500 million light-years away in constellation Cassiopeia
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NASA has found an active galaxy far, far away that looks eerily reminiscent of a TIE fighter from "Star Wars."
The galaxy, known as TXS 0128+554, is 500 million light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. TXS 0128+554 is considered an active galaxy, as it emits more light than all of its stars together. In 2015, researchers found TXS 0128+554 was a "faint source of gamma rays," but it wasn't until recently that they went in for a closer look.
“After the Fermi announcement, we zoomed in a million times closer on the galaxy using the [Very Long Baseline Array's] radio antennas and charted its shape over time,” said Purdue University professor and study lead author Matthew Lister in a statement. “The first time I saw the results, I immediately thought it looked like Darth Vader’s TIE fighter spacecraft from ‘Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.’ That was a fun surprise, but its appearance at different radio frequencies also helped us learn more about how active galaxies can change dramatically on decade time scales.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This image shows TXS 0128 at 15.4 gigahertz as observed by the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), a globe-spanning network of radio antennas. The colors correspond to the radio signal’s intensity, from low (purple) to high (yellow). Credits: NRAO
THE UNIVERSE WILL END IN THIS WAY, AT THIS TIME, RESEARCHER SAYS
TXS 0128+554 has a "supermassive black hole" that is believed to be 1 billion times the sun's mass, which may provide a reason for the gamma-ray emissions.
The galaxy is also producing two jets, "beams of high-energy particles traveling at nearly the speed of light in opposite directions," that give it the TIE fighter-like appearance. It's believed these jets may be producing some of the gamma-ray emissions.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The researchers used NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory to look at the galaxy to get a better idea of what it looks like.
This illustration shows two views of the active galaxy TXS 0128+554, located around 500 million light-years away. Left: The galaxy’s central jets appear as they would if we viewed them both at the same angle. Right: The galaxy appears in its actual orientation, with its jets tipped out of our line of sight by about 50 degrees. (Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)
“The real-world universe is three-dimensional, but when we look out into space, we usually only see two dimensions,” study co-author Daniel Homan added. “In this case, we’re lucky because the galaxy is angled in such a way, from our perspective, that the light from the farther lobe travels dozens more light-years to reach us than the light from the nearer one. This means we’re seeing the farther lobe at an earlier point in its evolution.”
'MILKY WAY LOOK-ALIKE' GALAXY FOUND 12B LIGHT-YEARS FROM EARTH
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The research has been published in The Astrophysical Journal.
TXS 0128+554 is not the only "Star Wars"-linked discovery in space in recent memory.
In June 2016, exoplanet Kepler-1647 b was discovered 3,700 light-years from Earth. It is part of a double-star system, similar to Luke Skywalker's planet, Tatooine. Three years later, exoplanet LTT 1445 A b and its three stars were discovered.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Researchers discovered what they described as "the first volcanically active exomoon" in August 2019, a celestial body eerily reminiscent of the tiny, fiery "Star Wars" planet, Mustafar, where Anakin Skywalker turned into Darth Vader.