Chandra Release - March 11, 2009

Visual Description: NGC 4194

This is an X-ray and optical light image of the galaxy NGC 4194, also known as the Medusa galaxy because of its unique shape, displays a bright blue and burnished gold color scheme.  At the center is an irregular clump of bright blue emission, surrounded by a much larger golden cluster of nebulous material, stars and other objects. This composite image of the Medusa galaxy includes X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in blue, and optical light from the Hubble Space Telescope in burnished gold. Located above the center of the galaxy and seen in the optical data, the "hair" of the Medusa -- made of snakes in the Greek myth -- is a today tail formed by a collision between galaxies. A bright X-ray source found towards the left side of Medusa's hair is a black hole.