Chandra Release - November 17, 2003

Visual Description: GB1508+5714

 The quasar GB1508+5714 is the subject of this graphic.  The main panel is an artist’s concept where the dominant colors are black, orange, white and green.  The shape of the quasar in the artist’s concept resembles a spiral, with a dark center and lighter edges.   The structure of the quasar consists of a central supermassive black hole surrounded by a rotating disk of gas and dust. This disk of gas and dust is what gives the quasar its characteristic spiral shape.  A strong white jet bursts out of the center at the top and bottom.  A Chandra X-ray Observatory image of the quasar GB1508+5714 is inset at top left, a large irregular blog of white to green.  It reveals a jet of high-energy particles that extends more than 100,000 light years from the supermassive black hole powering the quasar. At a distance of 12 billion light years from Earth, this is the most distant jet ever detected at the time of observation. The discovery of this jet is especially significant because it provides astronomers with a way to measure the intensity of the cosmic background radiation about one billion years after the Big Bang.