Chandra Release - February 15, 2018

Visual Description: Chandra Deep Field South

This deep-field composite image centers on the Chandra Deep Field South in X-ray, optical and infrared light along with an illustration of a black hole inset in the lower right. Faint, diffuse galaxies appear in muted gold, red, and green in the optical and infrared, forming a distant cosmic backdrop. Overlaid on some of the galaxies are vibrant, sharply defined blue spots, marking X-ray emission from hot gas falling into supermassive black holes in those galaxies. The X-ray points are scattered across the field, with some brighter and more distinct, others much less perceptible, indicating a range of black hole activity levels. The image as a whole evokes a dark canvas pierced by distant beacons, a universe teeming with hidden energetic engines. The Chandra X-ray Observatory data (blue) was the deepest ever obtained in X-rays at the time. It was combined with an optical and infrared image from the Hubble Space Telescope. Hot gas falling towards a supermassive black hole is depicted in the artist's illustration, colored in blue, with a white jet emanating from the center.