星系半人马座A的喷流

2021年01月17日

Jets from Unusual Galaxy Centaurus A
Image Credit: ESO/WFI (visible); MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A. Weiss et al. (microwave); NASA/CXC/CfA/R. Kraft et al. (X-ray)

Explanation: The jets emanating from Centaurus A are over a million light years long. These jets of streaming plasma, expelled by a giant black hole in the center of this spiral galaxy, light up this composite image of Cen A. Exactly how the central black hole expels infalling matter remains unknown. After clearing the galaxy, however, the jets inflate large radio bubbles that likely glow for millions of years. If energized by a passing gas cloud, the radio bubbles can even light up again after billions of years. X-ray light is depicted in the featured composite image in blue, while microwave light is colored orange. The base of the jet in radio light shows details of the innermost light year of the central jet.

Tomorrow’s picture: brain star

星系半人马座A的喷流
影像提供: ESO/WFI (visible); MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A. Weiss et al. (microwave); NASA/CXC/CfA/R. Kraft et al. (X-ray)

说明: 这些源自星系半人马座A的喷流，长度超过1百万光年。这些在螺旋星系半人马座A核心超大质量黑洞的驱策下、喷涌而出的电浆喷流，更照亮了整个星系。不过，核心的黑洞到底是如何把掉入的物质排出来，目前仍然不明。在穿出星系之后，这些喷流造成了庞大，会持续散发数百万年辉光的电波泡。在数十亿年后的将来，如果受到通过附近的气体云之激发，这些电波泡甚至会重新点亮。在这张主题合成影像里，X射线波段的光以蓝色呈现，微波波段的光为橘色。其中，电波波段的影像，呈现了最中心1光年内的中央喷流 底部之细微结构。

明日的图片: brain star