Galaxy Zoo Talk

AGN

  • hilscurtisgmail.com by hilscurtisgmail.com

    I've read the thread on AGNs in bulgeless galaxies - is this an example? How about the one in the top right corner?

    Posted

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

    The one in the center is SDSS J211209.65-012944.8; here's what it looks like up closer:

    enter image description here

    Exactly what the compact, almost point-like yellowish-white glow is, about where you might expect a nucleus, I don't know. There seems to be no spectrum, so we've got only photometry to go on. It's - obviously - a highly disrupted galaxy - perhaps due to an interaction with the one on the right? - and its color seems inconsistent with the 'dead and red' color of (almost?) all spiral galaxy bulges, so it could well be a bulgeless system (but it's also not impossible that it's just a foreground star in our own galaxy, which by chance is near where you'd expect a nucleus to be). However, without a spectrum, I think it's impossible to say whether there's an AGN there or not.

    For the other galaxy ... (stay tuned! 😃)

    Posted