Scientists say an X-shaped dust formation appears to fuel a huge black hole at the heart of a spiral-shaped galaxy some 20 million light years from Earth.
The findings not only reveal a curious structure but also help explain the enormous energy at the center of the galaxy, known as the Whirlpool Galaxy or M51.Because Earth-based equipment cannot see the dust rings, astronomers previously did not know why hot gases moved at speeds up to 2 million mph at M51's center.
However, pictures of the galaxy's nucleus taken by the Hubble space telescope revealed a dark X, which scientists say is made of two rings of cosmic dust.
"If these ideas are correct, M51 provides the first direct view of a (ring) which both fuels a massive black hole and hides the hole from direct view," said astronomer Holland Ford of Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
"The X is due to absorption by dust and marks the exact position of the nuclear black hole," Ford said. A black hole is a region of space with such strong gravity that nothing, not even light, can escape it.
Ford and his colleagues presented their findings Monday to the American Astronomical Society in Columbus, Ohio.
M51 has long been a focus of research because it is one of the nearest and brightest galaxies.