Messier 77, also known as NGC 1068, is a barred spiral galaxy situated approximately 47 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Cetus. At its core, it hosts a quasar, which is an extremely luminous active galactic nucleus powered by a supermassive black hole. Quasars are known for their exceptional brightness, often outshining their entire host galaxies in visible light.
The quasar within Messier 77 is particularly noteworthy due to its activity and luminosity. Analyses from various observations, including data from telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, indicate that this quasar emits intense radiation across a broad spectrum, from radio waves to X-rays. Its luminosity is in the range of several billion times that of the Sun, making it one of the brightest known objects in the universe.
This incredible brightness is due to the massive amounts of energy released as matter accretes onto the supermassive black hole, forming an accretion disk. Friction within this disk heats the material to extremely high temperatures, resulting in the emission of substantial electromagnetic radiation. The presence of dust and gas clouds surrounding the quasar can sometimes obscure its light in visible wavelengths, but its core remains incredibly bright across other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, especially in the infrared and X-ray regions.