M106: A Spiral Galaxy with a Strange Center

What's happening at the center of spiral galaxy M106? A swirling disk of stars and gas, M106 's appearance is dominated by blue spiral arms and red dust lanes near the nucleus, as shown in the featured image . The core of M106 glows brightly in radio waves and X-rays where twin jets have been found running the length of the galaxy. An unusual central glow makes M106 one of the closest examples of the Seyfert class of galaxies , where vast amounts of glowing gas are thought to be falling into a central massive black hole . M 106, also designated NGC 4258, is a relatively close 23.5 million light years away, spans 60 thousand light years across, and can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Hunting Dogs ( Canes Venatici ). Astrophysicists: Browse 1,000+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library