The Energetic Jet from Centaurus A

The Energetic Jet from Centaurus A



The center of well-studied active galax Centaurus Ais hidden from the view of opticaltelescopes by a cosmic jumble of stars, gas, and dust.But both radio an x-raytelescopes can trace th remarkable jetof high-energy particles streaming from the galaxy's core.With Cen A's central region at the lower right,this composite false-color image shows theradio emission in red and x-rays in blue overthe inner 4,000 light-years of the jet.One of the most detailed images of its kind thepicture shows how the x-rayand radio emitting sites are related along thejet, providinga road map to understanding the energetic stream Extractingits energy from a supermassive black hole at thegalaxy's center, the jet is confined to a relatively narrow angleand seems to produce most of its x-rays (bluer colors) at the upper left,farther from the core, where the jet begins to collide wit Centaurus A'sdenser gas.