Active galactic nucleus

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/active-galactic-nucleus

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN)
2. What is the key feature?Dominant non-stellar luminosity across the electromagnetic spectrum, often outshining the host galaxy
3. What is an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN)?An AGN is a very bright spot in the center of a galaxy, powered by a supermassive black hole that pulls in gas and dust, making it shine across all kinds of light from radio waves to gamma rays.
4. How does a black hole make an AGN so bright?When gas, dust, or even stars fall toward the black hole, they form a hot, spinning disk that releases a huge amount of energy, turning most of the matter's mass into bright light.

Supermassive Black Hole (SMBH): A black hole with a mass millions to billions of times that of the Sun, found at galactic centers.
Accretion: The process by which matter falls onto a massive object due to gravity.
Relativistic Jets: Collimated outflows of plasma ejected at speeds close to the speed of light from the vicinity of a black hole.
Redshift: The stretching of light waves from distant objects, indicating their movement away from us and their distance.