Messier 106: The four-armed galaxy with an endless appetite

Messier 106 is like most spiral galaxies: It has arms that spiral outward and a supermassive black hole at the center. A black hole is a region in space where matter is packed into a tiny space, and the gravitational pull is so strong that even light cannot escape. Supermassive black holes have masses greater than one million suns combined. The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius A. M106's supermassive black hole is hungrier than most though, and it has resulted in the unique appearance of the galaxy.

A look inside the Messier 106 galaxy

Messier 106 is a galaxy located in the Canes Venatici constellation, about 23.5 million light years away from our own Milky Way galaxy. It is pink in appearance, one of the brightest galaxies and one of the closest to ours.

Recent data, photos and video footage from the Hubble Telescope, combined with photography of amateur astronomers and astrophotographers Robert Gendler and Jay GaBany have finally helped scientists figure out why M106 has four arms instead of the typical two. A massive black hole at the center of M106 is eating up matter at a surprising rate.

Hungry black hole causes anomalous arms to form

The unusually active black hole at the center pulls gas and dust inwards toward the galaxy. This gas and dust heats up to millions of degrees and emits bright microwave and x-ray radiation. Those two extra arms, then, are made up of red hot glowing gas. This gas results from the spinning heating material at the galaxy’s center, causing jets of tightly bound gas to shoot outwards.

If talk of black holes gobbling up galactic matter causes you concern, have no fear. NASA tells us (or rather, worried elementary school students visiting their website) that there aren't any black holes close enough to our solar system to destroy the earth.

Image courtesy of NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day.