Chandra Release - March 5, 2014

Visual Description: RX J1131-1231

The X-ray and optical image of the quasar RX J1131-1231 displays a small ring-like object floating in a black sea with smaller, fainter dots and shapes, all against a dark background. The dots and shapes vary in size and color, with some appearing brighter and redder than others.  They showcase the distant galaxies and other celestial objects around the main quasar.  The object at the center resembles a gold ring with 3 pink diamonds on the top band, and an extra on the bottom inside band.  This combined view is from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. Gravitational lensing by an intervening elliptical galaxy has created four different images of the quasar, shown by the Chandra data in pink. Such lensing, first predicted by Einstein, offers a rare opportunity to study regions close to the black hole in distant quasars, by acting as a natural telescope and magnifying the light from these sources. The Hubble data in red, green and blue shows the elliptical galaxy in the middle of the image, along with other galaxies in the field.