Chandra Release - June 19, 2003

Visual Description: GOODS Chandra Deep Field-North

 This X-ray image is called the Chandra Deep Field North, which is part of the Great Observatory Origins Deep Survey, also known as GOODS. The Chandra Deep Field North showcases a sea of supermassive black holes. The image looks like small multicolored (red, green, orange, blue and white) dots scattered across the black background. The key structures in this image are the supermassive black holes, which can be identified by their intense X-ray emissions. Supermassive black holes are some of the most massive objects in the universe, with masses ranging from millions to billions of times the mass of our sun. They are known to exist at the centers of most galaxies, including our own Milky Way galaxy. The Chandra GOODS Deep Field North image was made by observing an area of the sky three-fifths the size of the full moon for 23 days. It was the most sensitive or "deepest" X-ray exposure ever made at the time of observation.