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NGC 7727 is a peculiar galaxy in the constellation Aquarius. It harbors two galactic nuclei, each containing a supermassive black hole, separated 1,600 light years apart.[2]

NGC 7727
NGC 7727 by HST
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Aquarius
Right ascension	23h 39.9m [1]
Declination	−12° 17′ 34″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)	11.5[1]
Characteristics
Type	SAB(s)a pec[1]
Apparent size (V)	4.7′ × 3.5′[1]
Other designations
PGC 72060, Arp 222

Features

This object is located at a distance of 23.3 megaparsecs (76 million light years) of the Milky Way[1] and has a peculiar aspect, with several plumes and streams of irregular shape that explains its inclusion on Halton C. Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies with the number 222, being classified as a "Galaxy with amorphous spiral arms".

In all likelihood, this system is the product of the merger of two previous spiral galaxies that took place 1 billion years ago,[3] with the aforementioned stellar plumes and streams being the remnants of the disks of the two galaxies that collided to form this object.

Two starlike objects can be seen in NGC 7727's center, at least one of them likely being the former core of one of those two spiral galaxies.[4] In addition to this, 23 objects – candidates to be young globular clusters formed in the collision – can be found in this system.[3]

NGC 7727 is very similar to NGC 7252, another galaxy product of the collision and merging of two former spiral galaxies, in the same constellation. However it has far less gas (neutral hydrogen and molecular hydrogen) than the latter.[5]

NGC 7727's most likely fate is to become an elliptical galaxy in the future, with very little interstellar dust and star formation.[6]

In November 2021, scientists announced the discovery of a pair of supermassive black holes in NGC 7727, detected with the Very Large Telescope's multi-unit spectroscopic explorer (MUSE) at the European Southern Observatory. The black holes have masses of 154 and 6.3 million solar masses, and are separated 1,600 light years apart. The pair are among the closest confirmed supermassive black holes to Earth at about 89 million light years away. Although the pair are separated closely enough to gravitationally influence each other, the smaller black hole is not bound in orbit around the larger black hole due to the surrounding mass of the NGC 7727 core region. The black holes will eventually merge in the next 250 million years, producing powerful, low-frequency gravitational waves in the process.[7][2]

See also

• List of nearest black holes

References

External links

• Media related to NGC 7727 at Wikimedia Commons

На других языках

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[de] NGC 7727

NGC 7727 = Arp 222 ist eine Balken-Spiralgalaxie vom Hubble-Typ SBa im Sternbild Aquarius auf der Ekliptik. Sie ist schätzungsweise 87 Millionen Lichtjahre von der Milchstraße entfernt und hat einen Durchmesser von etwa 115.000 Lichtjahren. Gemeinsam mit NGC 7724 bildet sie ein gravitativ gebundenes Galaxienpaar und ist die hellste Galaxie der NGC 7727-Gruppe (LGG 480).

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- [en] NGC 7727

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[es] NGC 7727

NGC 7727 es una galaxia situada en la constelación de Acuario a una distancia de 23,3 megaparsecs (76 millones de años luz) de la Vía Láctea[1] ,que puede verse con telescopios de aficionado.

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[ru] NGC 7727

NGC 7727 (другие обозначения — PGC 72060, MCG −2-60-8, IRAS23367+2651, VV 67, ARP 222) — пекулярная галактика в созвездии Водолей, обнаруженная 27 ноября 1785 года немецко-британским астрономом Вильгельмом Гершелем. В нём имеется два галактических ядра, каждое из которых содержит сверхмассивную чёрную дыру, разделённые 1600 световыми годами друг от друга[4]. Вместе с NGC 7724 она образует гравитационно связанную пару галактик и является самой яркой галактикой в группе NGC 7727 (LGG 480).

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