NGC 1097

NGC 1097, located in the constellation Fornax, is a peculiar barred spiral galaxy about 45 million light-years away from Earth. It is an active Seyfert galaxy. The central ring has a diameter of 5,000 light-years and consists of new stars created by matter flowing towards the central bar of the galaxy. A supermassive black hole with a mass of more than 100,000,000 suns resides in the center of NGC 1097.

NGC 1097 is also a disturbed galaxy. The main impact may have come from the satellite galaxy NGC 1097A (PGC 10479), located northwest from the center of NGC 1097. The second companion, NGC 1097B (PGC 717425), a small dwarf galaxy southeast from NGC 1097, may also have impacted the spiral structure of NGC 1097.

Furthermore, NGC 1097 shows four weak jet-like structures; at least three of them can be seen in the inverted image. One has the form of a “hammer” with a perpendicular bar northeast of the galaxy. Investigations show that these structures are not common jets consisting of gas ejected from the accretion disk rotating around the black hole. In fact, they seem to be star streams, and it is believed that they are remnants of a dwarf galaxy eaten up by the main galaxy.