Centaurus A: Jet Power and Black Hole Assortment Revealed in New Chandra Image
Description: In a long Chandra exposure lasting over seven days, Centaurus A reveals the effects of the supermassive black hole at its center. Opposing jets of high-energy particles are seen extending to the outer reaches of the galaxy, and numerous smaller black holes in binary star systems are also visible. In this image, low-energy X-rays are colored red, intermediate-energy X-rays are green, and the highest-energy X-rays detected by Chandra are blue. The dark green and blue bands running almost perpendicular to the jet are dust lanes that absorb X-rays, created when Centaurus A merged with another galaxy perhaps 100 million years ago.
Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray
Date: 2008
Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2008/cena/
Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Gift line: NASA/CXC/SAO
Accession number: centaurusa
Centaurus A: Jet Power and Black Hole Assortment Revealed in New Chandra Image
Description: In a long Chandra exposure lasting over seven days, Centaurus A reveals the effects of the supermassive black hole at its center. Opposing jets of high-energy particles are seen extending to the outer reaches of the galaxy, and numerous smaller black holes in binary star systems are also visible. In this image, low-energy X-rays are colored red, intermediate-energy X-rays are green, and the highest-energy X-rays detected by Chandra are blue. The dark green and blue bands running almost perpendicular to the jet are dust lanes that absorb X-rays, created when Centaurus A merged with another galaxy perhaps 100 million years ago.
Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray
Date: 2008
Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2008/cena/
Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Gift line: NASA/CXC/SAO
Accession number: centaurusa