Radio Galaxy Zoo Talk

bright light in the radio can't be seen in the infrared

  • adi_dinu by adi_dinu

    What is the bright central thing that is seen in the radio image?Why can't it be seen in the infrared image?Is it a cloud from the source on the left?

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  • JeanTate by JeanTate in response to adi dinu's comment.

    Hello again, adi dinu.

    What is the bright central thing that is seen in the radio image?

    It's a huge cloud of plasma (ionized gas) that's emitting a lot of electromagnetic radiation in the form of 'radio waves'.

    Why can't it be seen in the infrared image?

    Because that huge cloud does not emit much electromagnetic radiation in the form of infrared (IR) 'light'. Why not? Well, it's a bit complicated, but basically there are no physical mechanisms by which huge amounts of IR could be emitted by such a tenuous plasma cloud (and it contains no dust; 'hot dust' is a very efficient IR source).

    Is it a cloud from the source on the left?

    The 'source on the left' is called 2MASX J11384136+6010409, and also SDSS J113841.32+601040.7, and no doubt many other names besides. Here's what it looks like, to the SDSS camera:

    enter image description here

    And yes, it - or rather the supermassive black hole and accretion disk at the center of its nucleus - is the ultimate origin of the cloud (though the intergalactic medium itself is what's - mostly - emitting the radio waves).

    Hope this helps.

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  • adi_dinu by adi_dinu in response to JeanTate's comment.

    Thank's a lot for your help! It's really useful:) The photo's you've given me are amazing! Thanks again!

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  • Peter_Dzwig by Peter_Dzwig

    In your imagwe Jean, could it be that the diffuse RS is associated with the object at 11 o'clock?

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  • JeanTate by JeanTate in response to Peter_Dzwig's comment.

    This - the diffuse radio emission in the center of the field ARG00004rl - seems a bit mysterious.

    From the RGZ image alone, I find it hard to characterize its radio morphology; however, in this FIRST cutout, it reminds me of a pair of interacting galaxy with tidal tails:

    enter image description here

    Yet there's no apparent IR (WISE) or optical (SDSS) host! 😮

    is associated with the object at 11 o'clock?

    I don't think so ... its morphology is quite unlike that of a lobe, even a fading one, and there's no counterlobe, in either FIRST or NVSS:

    enter image description here enter image description here

    Good candidate for a contour overlay image, with WISE as canvass and both FIRST and TGSS radio, wouldn't you say?

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  • cafeeciencia by cafeeciencia

    Could it be distant galaxies colliding, therefore feeding a black hole ?

    what you guys think ? 😃

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  • JeanTate by JeanTate in response to cafeeciencia's comment.

    Yes, that's entirely possible.

    However, the radio comes from hot, diffuse plasma, and does not trace any galaxy tidal tails; rather it may come from jets from the galaxies' nuclei, bent because the IGM (inter-galactic medium) is moving (relative to the nuclei).

    Hope this helps! 😃

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