|
|
PKS 0637-752: Quasar
What Do These Images Tell Us?
| X-ray |
| These images show PKS 0637-752 as viewed by radio and
X-ray telescopes. PKS 0637-72 is so distant that we see it as it was 6 billion years ago. It is a luminous quasar that radiates with the power of 10 trillion suns from a region smaller than our solar
system. The source of this prodigious energy is believed to be a supermassive black hole. Radio observations of PKS 0637-752 show that it has an extended radio jet that stretches across several
hundred thousand light years. Chandra's X-ray image made with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) reveals a powerful
X-ray jet extending more than 200,000 light years into intergalactic space that is probably due to a beam of extremely high-energy particles. |
| Radio |
The radio image made with the Australia Telescope
Compact Array (ATCA) is shown on the left. This image is dominated by a bright and compact feature near the center, believed to be coincident with a super massive black hole. A long jet extends from
the central source to the right.
The Chandra X-ray image shows a similar jet. The discovery of the X-ray jet is important because the power radiated by the X-ray jet is much greater than that of the radio jet. Any theory of jets
must take into account the severe energy requirements imposed by the size and power of the X-ray jet. |
Return to PKS 0637-752 (26 Aug 99)
|
|
