Extended Data Fig. 2: Comparison of the morphologies of [O iii] and H2.
From: Two separate outflows in the dual supermassive black hole system NGC 6240
An image of H2 emission obtained with the near-infrared camera 2 (NIRC2)42 of the Keck adaptive optics system is superimposed on the [O iii] contours from Extended Data Fig. 1. Black represents fluxes < 0.011 of the peak of emission. The absence of molecular gas at the locations of the [O iii] cone and the Hα bubble clearly indicates that these two structures are located in regions that are not greatly influenced by the merger process. By contrast, the majority of perturbations caused by the merger activity are seen in the central region between the nuclei, and as gas streamers in the regions east and southwest of the SW nucleus (regions 3 and 4 in our analysis; see also Fig. 2b).
