Six Images by Chandra

Chandra Archive Collection: Six images that combine Chandra data with those from other telescopes.

With the passing of Chandraʼs 15th anniversary, the Chandra Data Archive, which houses all of the missionʼs data, continues to grow each successive year. These images – that include a wide range of astronomical objects -- combine X-rays from Chandraʼs archive with data from other telescopes. This technique of creating “multi-wavelength” images allows scientists and the public to see how X-rays fit with data of other types of light, such as optical, radio, and infrared.

PSR B1509-58 (upper left)
Pareidolia is the psychological phenomenon where people see recognizable shapes in clouds, rock formations, or otherwise unrelated objects or data. When Chandra's image of PSR B1509-58, a spinning neutron star surrounded by a cloud of energetic particles, was released in 2009, it quickly gained attention because many saw a hand-like structure in the X-ray emission. In this new image of the system, X-rays from Chandra in gold are seen along with infrared data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope in red, green, and blue. Pareidolia may strike again in this image as some people report seeing a shape of a face in WISE's infrared data.

RCW 38 (upper right)
A young star cluster about 5,500 light years from Earth, RCW 38 provides astronomers a chance to closely examine many young, rapidly evolving stars at once. In this composite image, X-rays from Chandra are blue, while infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope are orange and additional infrared data from the 2MASS survey appears white. There are many massive stars in RCW 38 that will likely explode as supernovas. Astronomers studying RCW 38 are hoping to better understand this environment as our Sun was likely born into a similar stellar nursery.

Hercules A (middle left):
Some galaxies have extremely bright cores, suggesting that they contain a supermassive black hole that is pulling in matter at a prodigious rate. Astronomers call these "active galaxies," and Hercules A is one of them. In visible light (colored red, green and blue, with most objects appearing white), Hercules A looks like a typical elliptical galaxy. In X-ray light, however, Chandra detects a giant cloud of multimillion-degree gas (purple). This gas has been heated by energy generated by the infall of matter into a black hole at the center of Hercules A that is over 1,000 times as massive as the one in the middle of the Milky Way. Radio data (blue) show jets of particles streaming away from the black hole. The jets span a length of almost one million light years.

Kes 73 (middle right):
The supernova remnant Kes 73, located about 28,000 light years away, contains a so-called anomalous X-ray pulsar, or AXP, at its center. Astronomers think that most AXPs are magnetars, which are neutron stars with ultra-high magnetic fields. Surrounding the point-like AXP in the middle, Kes 73 has an expanding shell of debris from the supernova explosion that occurred between about 750 and 2100 years ago, as seen from Earth. The Chandra data (blue) reveal clumpy structures along one side of the remnant, and appear to overlap with infrared data (orange). The X-rays partially fill the shell seen in radio emission (red) by the Very Large Array. Data from the Digitized Sky Survey optical telescope (white) show stars in the field-of-view.

Mrk 573 (lower left):
Markarian 573 is an active galaxy that has two cones of emission streaming away from the supermassive black hole at its center. Several lines of evidence suggest that a torus, or doughnut of cool gas and dust may block some of the radiation produced by matter falling into supermassive black holes, depending on how the torus is oriented toward Earth. Chandra data of Markarian 573 suggest that its torus may not be completely solid, but rather may be clumpy. This composite image shows overlap between X-rays from Chandra (blue), radio emission from the VLA (purple), and optical data from Hubble (gold).

NGC 4736 (lower right):
NGC 4736 (also known as Messier 94) is a spiral galaxy that is unusual because it has two ring structures. This galaxy is classified as containing a "low ionization nuclear emission region," or LINER, in its center, which produces radiation from specific elements such as oxygen and nitrogen. Chandra observations (gold) of NGC 4736, seen in this composite image with infrared data from Spitzer (red) and optical data from Hubble and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (blue), suggest that the X-ray emission comes from a recent burst of star formation. Part of the evidence comes from the large number of point sources near the center of the galaxy, showing that strong star formation has occurred. In other galaxies, evidence points to supermassive black holes being responsible for LINER properties. Chandra's result on NGC 4736 shows LINERs may represent more than one physical phenomenon.

Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO

Note: For more information, see Chandra Archive Collection: Chandra's Archives Come to Life.

NGC 5128 - Centaurus A

Centaurus A: An active galaxy about 12 million light years from Earth.

Centaurus A is a galaxy well known for a gargantuan jet blasting away from a central supermassive black hole, which is seen in this new Chandra image. This image - where red, medium,and blue show low, medium, and high-energy X-rays respectively - has been processed with new techniques and contains data from observations equivalent to over nine and a half days worth of observing time taken between 1999 and 2012. The data housed in Chandra's extensive archive on Centaurus A provide a rich resource for a wide range of scientific investigations, including a recent study that examines the population and characteristics of black holes and neutron stars throughout the galaxy.

Scale: Image is 16.7 arcmin (about 58,000 light years)

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U.Birmingham/M.Burke et al.

Note: For more information, see Centaurus A: A New Look at an Old Friend.

Black Hole Amid Galaxy Cluster RX J1532.9+3021

RX J1532.9+3021: The black hole is in a galaxy cluster located about 3.9 billion light years from Earth.

Astronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes to reveal one of the most powerful black holes known. The supermassive black hole is in the center of a galaxy cluster named RX J1532.9+3021 located about 3.9 billion light years from Earth. The image here is a composite of X-ray data from Chandra revealing hot gas in the cluster in purple and optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope showing galaxies in yellow. Supersonic jets generated by the black hole have drilled into the hot gas and pushed it aside, forming the large cavities that can be seen on either side of the central galaxy (mouse over the image for a labeled version).

Scale: Image is 1.6 arcmin on a side (about 1.6 million light years).

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Stanford/J.Hlavacek-Larrondo et al, Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/M.Postman & CLASH team

Note: For more information, see RX J1532.9+3021: Extreme Power of Black Hole Revealed.

NGC 660

This new Hubble image shows a peculiar galaxy known as NGC 660, located around 45 million light-years away from us.

NGC 660 is classified as a "polar ring galaxy", meaning that it has a belt of gas and stars around its center that it ripped from a near neighbor during a clash about one billion years ago. The first polar ring galaxy was observed in 1978 and only around a dozen more have been discovered since then, making them something of a cosmic rarity.

Unfortunately, NGC 660’s polar ring cannot be seen in this image, but has plenty of other features that make it of interest to astronomers – its central bulge is strangely off-kilter and, perhaps more intriguingly, it is thought to harbor exceptionally large amounts of dark matter. In addition, in late 2012 astronomers observed a massive outburst emanating from NGC 660 that was around ten times as bright as a supernova explosion. This burst was thought to be caused by a massive jet shooting out of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.

Photo credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Sagittarius A*

Sagittarius A*: The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

New evidence has been uncovered for the presence of a jet of high-energy particles blasting out of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). This image of Sgr A* and the region around it contains some of the data used in the study, with X-rays from Chandra (purple) and radio emission from the Very Large Array (blue). Jets of high-energy particles are found throughout the Universe on large and small scales. The likely discovery of a jet from Sgr A* helps astronomers learn more about the giant black hole, including how it is spinning.

Scale: Image is 1.2 arcmin across. (about 9 light years).

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UCLA/Z.Li et al; Radio: NRAO/VLA

Note: For more information, see Sagittarius A*: New Evidence For A Jet From Milky Way's Black Hole.

UGC 10288

The edge-on spiral galaxy UGC 10288 appeared to be a single object in previous observations. However, new detailed radio data from the NRAO's Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) revealed that the large perpendicular extension of UGC 10288's halo (blue) is really a distant background galaxy with radio jets.

This image of UGC 10288 in the foreground is created with data spanning optical, infrared and radio energies. Radio data are blue, and infrared observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) are yellow and orange, respectively. Optical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are purplish blue and show starlight; and optical data from the Kitt Peak National Observatory are rose and show heated gas.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/NRAO/SDSS/NOAO/University of Manitoba

Note: For more information, see Nature Pulls a Fast One on Astronomers.

NGC 1433

This detailed view shows the central parts of the nearby active galaxy NGC 1433. The dim blue background image, showing the central dust lanes of this galaxy, comes from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The colored structures near the center are from recent ALMA observations that have revealed a spiral shape, as well as an unexpected outflow, for the first time.

Image credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/NASA/ESA/F. Combes

Note: For more information, see ALMA Probes Mysteries of Jets from Giant Black Holes.

HH 46/47

This unprecedented image of Herbig-Haro object HH 46/47 combines radio observations acquired with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) with much shorter wavelength visible light observations from ESO’s New Technology Telescope (NTT). The ALMA observations (orange and green, lower right) of the newborn star reveal a large energetic jet moving away from us, which in the visible is hidden by dust and gas. To the left (in pink and purple) the visible part of the jet is seen, streaming partly towards us.

Image credit: ESO/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/H. Arce. Acknowledgements: Bo Reipurth

Note: For more information, see ALMA Takes Close Look at Drama of Starbirth.

4C+29.30: Black Hole Powered Jets Plow Into Galaxy

4C+29.30: A galaxy located about 850 million light years from Earth.

The intense gravity of a supermassive black hole can be tapped to produce immense power in the form of jets moving at millions of miles per hour. A composite image shows this happening in the galaxy known as 4C+29.30 where X-rays from Chandra (blue) have been combined with optical (gold) and radio (pink) data. The X-rays trace the location of superheated gas around the black hole, which is estimated to weigh 100 million times the mass of our Sun. Some of this material may eventually be consumed by the black hole, and the magnetized, whirlpool of gas near the black hole could in turn, trigger more output to the radio jet. The optical light image shows the stars in this galaxy. A torus of gas and dust surrounds the black hole and blocks most of the optical light coming from there. Because of this, astronomers refer to this type of source as a hidden or buried black hole.

Scale: Image is 45 arcsec on a side (180,000 light years).

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/A.Siemiginowska et al, Optical: NASA/STScI; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA)

Note: For more information, see 4C+29.30: Black Hole Powered Jets Plow Into Galaxy.

NGC 2768

The soft glow in the picture above is NGC 2768, an elliptical galaxy located in the northern constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear). It appears here as a bright oval on the sky, surrounded by a wide, fuzzy cloud of material. This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the dusty structure encircling the center of the galaxy, forming a knotted ring around the galaxy’s brightly glowing middle. Interestingly, this ring lies perpendicular to the plane of NGC 2768 itself, stretching up and out of the galaxy.

The dust in NGC 2768 forms an intricate network of knots and filaments. In the center of the galaxy are two tiny, S-shaped symmetric jets. These two flows of material travel outwards from the galactic center along curved paths, and are masked by the tangle of dark dust lanes that spans the body of the galaxy.

These jets are a sign of a very active center. NGC 2768 is an example of a Seyfert galaxy, an object with a supermassive black hole at its center. This speeds up and sucks in gas from the nearby space, creating a stream of material swirling inwards towards the black hole known as an accretion disc. This disk throws off material in very energetic outbursts, creating structures like the jets seen in the image above.

Photo credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt.

Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 1365

ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's NuSTAR have detected a supermassive black hole spinning at almost the speed of light in the heart of spiral galaxy NGC 1365. The rate at which a black hole spins encodes the history of its formation. An extremely rapid rotation could result from either a steady and uniform flow of matter spiraling in via an accretion disc (as shown in this artist impression) or as a result of the merger of two galaxies and their smaller black holes.

Also depicted in this image is an outflowing jet of energetic particles, believed to be powered by the black hole's spin. The regions near black holes contain compact sources of high energy X-ray radiation thought, in some scenarios, to originate from the base of these jets. The nature of the X-ray emission enables astronomers to see how fast matter is swirling in the inner region of the disc, and ultimately to measure the black hole's spin rate.

Illustration credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Note: For more information, see Speedy Black Hole Holds Galaxy's History. Also, PIA16695: Black Holes: Monsters in Space (Artist's Concept), PIA16696: How to Measure the Spin of a Black Hole (Artist's Concept), and PIA16697: Two Models of Black Hole Spin (Artist's Concept). Also, PIA16698: Complementary X-Ray Vision, PIA16699: NuSTAR's Improved View, and PIA16870: Two X-Ray Observatories are Better Than One. Also, NASA's NuSTAR Helps Solve Riddle of Black Hole Spin.

Vela Pulsar Jet

Vela Pulsar Jet: A jet of high-energy particles associated with the Vela pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star about 1,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Vela.

This deep image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory shows the Vela pulsar, a neutron star that was formed when a massive star collapsed. In the upper right is a fast moving jet of particles produced by the pulsar. The pulsar is about 1,000 light years from Earth, and makes over 11 complete rotations every second. As the pulsar spins, it spews out a jet of charged particles that race out along the pulsar’s rotation axis at about 70% of the speed of light. A movie shows dramatic changes in the jet, suggesting that the pulsar may be slowly wobbling, or precessing, as it spins. If this evidence is confirmed, it would be the first time that a neutron star has been found to be precessing. In this image the jet's shape is blurred because images at different times have been added together.

Scale: Movie is 4.8 x 3.6 arcmin (1.4 x 1.0 light years).

Video credit: NASA/CXC/Univ of Toronto/M.Durant et al.

Note: For more information, see Vela Pulsar Jet: New Chandra Movie Features Neutron Star Action.

Quasar GB 1428+4217: Furthest X-Ray Jet Detected

GB 1428+4217: A quasar at a distance of about 12.4 billion light years from Earth.

This composite image shows GB 1428+4217, a quasar that contains the most distant X-ray jet ever observed. This view contains X-rays from Chandra (blue), radio data from the Very Large Array (purple), and optical data from Hubble (yellow). The jet, whose shape is very similar in the X-ray and radio data, was produced by a giant black hole, at the center of a galaxy, pulling in matter at a rapid rate. The energy released as particles fall toward the black hole generates intense radiation and powerful beams of high-energy particles that blast away from the black hole at nearly the speed of light. GB 1428+4217 is located about 12.4 billion light years from Earth, surpassing the distance of previously discovered X-ray jets.

Scale: Image is 41 arcsec across. (about 900,000 light years).

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/NRC/C.Cheung et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA

Note: For more information, see GB 1428+4217: Record-Setting X-ray Jet Discovered.

The Phoenix Cluster

The image on the left shows the newly discovered Phoenix Cluster, located about 5.7 billion light years from Earth. This composite includes an X-ray image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in purple, an optical image from the 4m Blanco telescope in red, green and blue, and an ultraviolet (UV) image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) in blue. The Chandra data show hot gas in the cluster and the optical and UV images show galaxies in the cluster and in nearby parts of the sky.

This galaxy cluster has been dubbed the "Phoenix Cluster" because it is located in the constellation of the Phoenix, and because of its remarkable properties, as explained here and in our press release. Stars are forming in the Phoenix Cluster at the highest rate ever observed for the middle of a galaxy cluster. The object is also the most powerful producer of X-rays of any known cluster, and among the most massive of clusters. The data also suggest that the rate of hot gas cooling in the central regions of the cluster is the largest ever observed.

Like other galaxy clusters, Phoenix contains a vast reservoir of hot gas -- containing more normal matter than all of the galaxies in the cluster combined -- that can only be detected with X-ray telescopes like Chandra. This hot gas is giving off copious amounts of X-rays and cooling quickly over time, especially near the center of the cluster, causing gas to flow inwards and form huge numbers of stars. These features are shown in the artist's impression of the central galaxy, with hot gas in red, cooler gas in blue. The gas flows appear as the ribbon-like features and the newly formed stars are blue. An animation portrays the process of cooling and star formation in action. A close-up of the middle of the optical and UV image shows that the central galaxy has much bluer colors than the nearby galaxies in the cluster, revealing the presence of large numbers of hot, massive stars forming.

These results are striking because most galaxy clusters have formed very few stars over the last few billion years. Astronomers think that the supermassive black hole in the central galaxy of clusters pumps energy into the system. The famous Perseus Cluster is an example of a black hole bellowing out energy and preventing the gas from cooling to form stars at a high rate. Repeated outbursts from the black hole in the center of Perseus in the form of powerful jets, created giant cavities and produced sound waves with an incredibly deep B-flat note 57 octaves below middle C. Shock waves, akin to sonic booms in Earth's atmosphere, and the very deep sound waves release energy into the gas in Perseus, preventing most of it from cooling.

In the case of Phoenix, jets from the giant black hole in its central galaxy are not powerful enough to prevent the cluster gas from cooling. Correspondingly, any deep notes produced by the jets must be much weaker than needed to prevent cooling and star formation.

Based on the Chandra data and also observations at other wavelengths, the supermassive black hole in the central galaxy of Phoenix is growing very quickly, at a rate of about 60 times the mass of the Sun every year. This rate is unsustainable, because the black hole is already very large with a mass of about 20 billion times the mass of the Sun. Therefore, its growth spurt cannot last much longer than about a hundred million years or it would become much bigger than its counterparts in the nearby Universe. A similar argument applies to the growth of the central galaxy. Eventually powerful jets should be produced by the black hole in repeated outbursts, forming the deep notes seen in objects like Perseus and stopping the starburst.

The Phoenix Cluster was originally detected by the South Pole Telescope, using the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, as explained in more detail in a blog interview with the first author of the paper, Michael McDonald. In a separate article more details about the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect are given, including a historical perspective, in an interview with one of its co-discoverers, Rashid Sunyaev.

Photo and illustration credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/M.McDonald; UV: NASA/JPL-Caltech/M.McDonald; Optical: AURA/NOAO/CTIO/MIT/M.McDonald; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

Active Black Hole Squashes Star Formation

The Herschel Space Observatory has shown that galaxies with the most powerful, active, supermassive black holes at their cores produce fewer stars than galaxies with less active black holes.

Supermassive black holes are believed to reside in the hearts of all large galaxies. When gas falls upon these monsters, the materials are accelerated and heated around the black hole, releasing great torrents of energy. In the process, active black holes often generate colossal jets that blast out twin streams of heated matter.

Inflows of gas into a galaxy also fuel the formation of new stars. In a new study of distant galaxies, Herschel helped show that star formation and black hole activity increase together, but only up to a point. Astronomers think that if an active black hole flares up too much, it starts spewing radiation that prevents raw material from coalescing into new stars.

This artistically modified image of the local galaxy Arp 220, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, helps illustrate the Herschel results. The bright core of the galaxy, paired with an overlaid artist's impression of jets emanating from it, indicate that the central black hole's activity is intensifying. As the active black hole continues to rev up, the rate of star formation will, in turn, be tamped down in the galaxy. Astronomers want to further study how star formation and black hole activity are intertwined.

Illustration credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Note: This is one of this week's big stories. For more information, see:
* Overfed Black Holes Shut Down Galactic Star-Making
* The Most Powerful Black Holes Quenched Their Galaxy's Star Formation
* Herschel Galaxy Survey: Overfed Black Holes Shut Down Galactic Star-Making

Artist's Concept of a Blazar

This artist's concept shows a "feeding," or active, supermassive black hole with a jet streaming outward at nearly the speed of light. Such active black holes are often found at the hearts of elliptical galaxies. Not all black holes have jets, but when they do, the jets can be pointed in any direction. If a jet happens to shine at Earth, the object is called a blazar.

Blazars are categorized differently than other active black holes with jets because they have unique properties when viewed by telescopes. They give off a full range of light, dominated by high-energy gamma rays. As particles in the jets are accelerated to almost the speed of light, they give off a specific infrared signature, which NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) can detect. Astronomers have taken advantage of this fact, and used the WISE all-sky catalog to uncover more than 200 new blazars so far.

Illustration credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Note: For more information, see PIA15424: Lone Blazar; also, see NASA's WISE Mission Sees Skies Ablaze With Blazars.

Centaurus A in Far and Infrared and X-Rays

The peculiar galaxy Centaurus A as seen in longer infrared wavelengths and X-rays. Inner structural features seen in this image are helping scientists to understand the mechanisms and interactions within the galaxy, as are the jets seen extending over thousands of light years from the black hole believed to be at its heart. Newly discovered clouds co-aligned with the jets can also be seen in the infrared data, which are colored red and orange. The X-ray image data in this combined picture are shown in blue/cyan/purple and highlight the highly energetic jet region as well as structures that co-align with the infrared and X-ray jet (top left).

Photo credit: Far-infrared: ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE/C.D. Wilson, MacMaster University, Canada; X-ray: ESA/XMM-Newton/EPIC

Note: For more information, see Multi Wavelength Video of Centaurus A; also, Dark Heart of a Cosmic Collision.

NGC 3801: The Beginning of the End of Star Formation

Time is running out for the galaxy NGC 3801, seen in this composite image combining light from across the spectrum, ranging from ultraviolet to radio. NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer and other instruments have helped catch the galaxy NGC 3801 in the act of destroying its cold, gaseous fuel for new stars. Astronomers believe this marks the beginning of its transition from a vigorous spiral galaxy to a quiescent elliptical galaxy whose star-forming days are long past.

Visible light from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey is seen in yellow shining from all of the galaxy's stars. Notice that NGC 3801 is starting to possess a broadly elliptical shape, the characteristic shape a galaxy assumes after forming from a merger of spiral galaxies. Some star formation is still taking place in NGC 3801, as shown in the ultraviolet by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (colored blue), and in the dusty disk revealed in infrared light by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (red).

According to theory, that lingering star formation will soon be quenched by shock waves from two powerful jets shooting out of NGC 3801's central giant black hole. Radio emissions from those jets appear in this image in green. Like a cosmic leaf blower, the jets' expanding shock waves will blast away the remaining cool star-making gas in NGC 3801. The galaxy will become "red and dead," as astronomers say, full of old, red stars and lacking in any new stellar younglings.

Near-ultraviolet light from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer at a wavelength of 230 nanometers is rendered in blue, while visible light at 469 nanometers from Sloan is displayed in yellow. Infrared light at 8 microns from Spitzer is red, and radio emission at 20 centimeters from NRAO’s Very Large Array is overlaid in green.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SDSS/NRAO/ASIAA

Note: For more information, see PIA15419: The Beginning of the End of Star Formation. Also, Cosmic 'Leaf Blower' Robs Galaxy of Star-Making Fuel.

Star Birth in Galaxy Centaurus A

Resembling looming rain clouds on a stormy day, dark lanes of dust crisscross the giant elliptical galaxy Centaurus A.

Hubble's panchromatic vision, stretching from ultraviolet through near-infrared wavelengths, reveals the vibrant glow of young, blue star clusters and a glimpse into regions normally obscured by the dust.

The warped shape of Centaurus A's disk of gas and dust is evidence for a past collision and merger with another galaxy. The resulting shockwaves cause hydrogen gas clouds to compress, triggering a firestorm of new star formation. These are visible in the red patches in this Hubble close-up.

At a distance of just over 11 million light-years, Centaurus A contains the closest active galactic nucleus to Earth. The center is home for a supermassive black hole that ejects jets of high-speed gas into space, but neither the supermassive black hole or the jets are visible in this image.

This image was taken in July 2010 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble

Collaboration Acknowledgment: R. O'Connell (University of Virginia) and the WFC3 Scientific Oversight Committee

Twin Jets in Herbig-Haro 34

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope took this image of a baby star sprouting two identical jets (green lines emanating from fuzzy star). The jet on the right had been seen before in visible-light views, but the jet at left -- the identical twin to the first jet -- could only be seen in detail with Spitzer's infrared detectors. The left jet was hidden behind a dark cloud, which Spitzer can see through.

The twin jets, in a system called Herbig-Haro 34, are made of identical knots of gas and dust, ejected one after another from the area around the star. By studying the spacing of these knots, and knowing the speed of the jets from previous studies, astronomers were able to determine that the jet to the right of the star punches its material out 4.5 years later than the counter-jet.

The new data also reveal that the area from which the jets originate is contained within a sphere around the star, with a radius of 3 astronomical units. An astronomical unit is the distance between Earth and the Sun. Previous studies estimated that the maximum size of this jet-making zone was 10 times larger.

The wispy material is gas and dust. Arc-shaped bow shocks can be seen at the ends of the twin jets. The shocks consist of compressed material in front of the jets.

The Herbig-Haro 34 jets are located at approximately 1,400 light-years away in the Orion constellation.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech