File:Compact Core of Galaxy M32 (1992-09-58).jpg

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Captions

Captions

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope clearly shows the central core of the elliptical galaxy M32. This green-light image was taken with HST's Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPC), in high resolution mode, on August 17, 1991.

Summary

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Description
English: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope clearly shows the central core of the elliptical galaxy M32. This green-light image was taken with HST's Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPC), in high resolution mode, on August 17, 1991. The steady increase in brightness of M32 towards its center is readily apparent in the image, showing that the stars in M32 are strongly concentrated towards its nucleus, as if drawn into the center and held there by the gravitational field of a massive black hole. Theoretical models suggest that the structure of M32 is consistent with a central 3 million solar mass black hole. The density of stars at the center of the image is over 100 million times that within our Sun's neighborhood. The region shown is 175 light-years on a side at the distance of M32. The grainy appearance near the borders of the image is due to the Hubble Space Telescope resolving individual stars within M32.
Date 8 April 1992 (upload date)
Source Compact Core of Galaxy M32
Author Credit: Tod R. Lauer/NASA
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Licensing

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Public domain This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA and ESA. NASA Hubble material (and ESA Hubble material prior to 2009) is copyright-free and may be freely used as in the public domain without fee, on the condition that only NASA, STScI, and/or ESA is credited as the source of the material. This license does not apply if ESA material created after 2008 or source material from other organizations is in use.
The material was created for NASA by Space Telescope Science Institute under Contract NAS5-26555, or for ESA by the Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre. Copyright statement at hubblesite.org or 2008 copyright statement at spacetelescope.org. For material created by the European Space Agency on the spacetelescope.org site since 2009, use the {{ESA-Hubble}} tag.

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current20:45, 27 November 2023Thumbnail for version as of 20:45, 27 November 20232,950 × 2,365 (180 KB)OptimusPrimeBot (talk | contribs)#Spacemedia - Upload of https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01EVTB6SZZMD65BAGWRGB6JNR5.jpg via Commons:Spacemedia

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