Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/MIT/C.Canizares, D.Evans et al), Optical (NASA/STScI), Radio (NSF/NRAO/VLA)

This composite image (X-rays from Chandra in red, optical data in green, and radio emission in blue) shows NGC 1068, one of the nearest and brightest spiral galaxies containing a rapidly growing supermassive black hole. The X-ray images and spectra obtained using Chandra's High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer show that a strong wind is being driven away from the center of NGC 1068 at a rate of about a million miles per hour. These results help explain how an "average"-sized supermassive black hole can alter the evolution of its host galaxy.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2010/ngc1068/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html