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Hubble Space Telescope recently captured an impressive galaxy that goes by a name that looks more like a password for a computer: 2XMM J143450.5+033843.
Such a name may seem like a random jumble of numbers and letters, but like all galactic epithets it has a distinct meaning.
This galaxy, for example, was detected and observed as part of the second X-ray sky survey performed by ESA’s XMM-Newton Observatory. Its celestial coordinates form the rest of the bulky name, following the “J”: a right ascension value of 14h (hours) 34m (minutes) 50.5s (seconds).
This can be likened to terrestrial longitude. It also has a declination of +03d (degrees) 38m (minutes) 43s (seconds). Declination can be likened to terrestrial latitude.
The other fuzzy object in the frame was named in the same way, it is a bright galaxy named 2XMM J143448.3+033749.
2XMM J143450.5+033843 lies nearly 400 million light-years away from Earth. It is a Seyfert galaxy that is dominated by something known as an Active Galactic Nucleus – its core is thought to contain a supermassive black hole that is emitting huge amounts of radiation, pouring energetic X-rays out into the Universe.
