Chandra Release - Feberuary 16, 2016

Visual Description: B3 0727+409

The image features a black hole named B3 0727+409 in the center of the full frame, and with a pullout in the upper right. The black hole is surrounded by small bright spots of light, mostly distant galaxies and foreground stars.  The colors in the image are predominantly blue, pale yellow, black and white. The main panel graphic shows Chandra X-ray Observatory data in blue that have been combined with an optical image from the Digitized Sky Survey (pale yellow and white). There are two sources near the center of the image that do not represent a double source, but rather a coincidental alignment of the distant jet and a foreground galaxy. The inset shows more detail of the X-ray emission from a long jet detected by Chandra. The length of the jet in 0727+409 is at least 300,000 light years. Many long jets emitted by supermassive black holes have been detected in the nearby Universe, but exactly how these jets give off X-rays has remained a matter of debate.