Chandra Release - April 23, 2003

Visual Description: Centaurus A Jet

 This X-ray image depicts the central region of an active galaxy named Centaurus A, which is located in the constellation of Centaurus. This galaxy is about 10 million light-years away from Earth and is one of the brightest sources of X-rays in the sky.  The image showcases a vibrant display of colors, with purple, blue and red shades dominating the scene. At the center of the galaxy, in the lower right corner of the image, there is a bright pink spot. This spot represents the location of the supermassive black hole at the heart of Centaurus A.  Coming from the bright spot is a large fuzzy jet moving to our upper left. This is a composite image of X-rays from Chandra (blue) and VLA radio (red) observations showing the inner 4,000 light years of a magnetized jet in Centaurus A. Purple regions are bright in both radio and X-ray.The radio observations showed that the inner portion of the jet is moving away from the center of the galaxy at speeds of about half the speed of light. Most of the X-rays from the jet are produced farther out where the jet stalls, as it plows through the gas in the galaxy. The collision of the jet with the galactic gas generates a powerful shock wave that produces the extremely high-energy particles responsible for the X-rays.