active galactic nucleus

active galactic nucleus

Small region at the centre of a galaxy that emits a prodigious amount of energy in the form of radio, optical, X-ray, or gamma radiation or high-speed particle jets. Many classes of “active galaxies” have been identified; they appear similar in many respects to quasars. Astronomers suspect that the observed energy is generated as matter accretes onto a supermassive black hole with a mass millions or even billions of times that of the Sun. The accreting matter can outshine the rest of the galaxy as it is heated in very high-speed collisions outside the black hole's event horizon. It is believed that many galaxies harbour these central black holes and that they might have been quasars in their early history, although they now appear to be dormant unless orbiting matter is accreting onto the black hole.

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active galactic nucleus [¦ak·tiv gə‚lak·tik ′nü·klē·əs]

(astronomy)

A central region of a galaxy, a light-year or less in diameter, where violent and apparently explosive behavior is observed which is manifested in many ways, including the high-velocity outflow of gas, strong nonthermal radio emission, intense and often polarized and highly variable radiation over a wide range of wavelength bands, and ejection of jets of relativistic material.