Chandra Release - June 6, 2000

Visual Description: Pictor A

The  Chandra X-ray Observatory image features a galaxy called Pictor A. The image is dominated by black, brown and orange colors, with tiny orange dots visible in the background. In the center of the image, there is a bright light that appears to be emanating from the galaxy.  Pictor A is a type of galaxy known as a radio galaxy, which is characterized by its strong radio emissions. These emissions are produced by supermassive black holes at the center of the galaxy, where matter is being accreted and heated to extremely high temperatures. The image of Pictor A shows a spectacular jet that emanates from the center of the galaxy (left) and extends across 360,000 light years toward a brilliant hot spot. The hot spot is at least 800,000 light years (8 times the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy) away from where the jet originates. The hot spot is thought to represent the advancing head of the jet, which brightens conspicuously where it plows into the tenuous gas of intergalactic space.