NGC 1097 Galaxy

This is a 10th magnitude face-on, barred spiral galaxy. About 9' x 7' in diameter, NGC 1097 looks like a bright, round disk in 8-inch and smaller scopes. This is the nuclear region of the galaxy. Users of large instruments may be able to make out a faint ring around the nucleus at low magnifications.

The view in a six-inch at 50x. N is down, E is right.

NGC 1097 is an active galaxy, or AGN. Active galaxies are galaxies that have nuclei that show many of the same characteristics as quasars. There is mounting evidence that this is the result of a supermassive black hole that lies near the center of these objects. Measurements of the velocity of gas orbiting about the center of NGC 1097 indicates that the mass of nearly a million stars lies near the center. This and other observations are consistent with the model that most of this mass is contained in a single black hole.

A Digital Palomar Sky Survey view of the same area