whats going on here ?
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by nancypants
is this a very old galaxy ? it looks very hot at the center is that correct
the of the images are fantastic i feel privileged to be able to see themPosted
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by ElisabethB moderator
This is Mrk 309 and it has an AGN ( Active Galaxy Nucleus), that is why the center looks so weird. The blue spot in the center is an optical artifact caused by oversaturation.
More info on AGN here : AGN
And, yes, we are very priviledged to look at these images 😄
Happy hunting ! 😄
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by JeanTate in response to nancypants's comment.
Welcome to Galaxy Zoo, nancypants!
This galaxy has, as one of its names, Markaryan 309, or MRK 309. The star-like nucleus is an AGN, an active galactic nucleus, and a very bright one too; this means it is a Seyfert (see Wikipedia). It is very well studied, with nearly 100 scientific papers on it (and similar objects).
Happy hunting! 😃
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by nancypants
thanks for the reply's im enjoying every spare moment i can hunting and using my telescope whenever the uk skys are clear enough 😃
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