Multimedia Gallery
Double-lobed Radio Galaxy
A double-lobed radio galaxy with optical image in blue and radio image in red.
More about this Image
This image shows the optical and radio morphology of the double-lobed radio galaxy 3C66B. In this radio/optical overlay, blue colors show the distribution of stars, made from an image from the Digitized Sky Survey, and red colors show the radio radiation as imaged by the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array Telescope in New Mexico, measured at a wavelength of 20 centimeters.
This radio emission is from relativistic streams of high-energy particles generated by a quasar. Astronomers believe that the jets are fueled by material accreting onto a super-massive black hole at the center of the galaxy hosting the quasar. The high-energy particles are shot into extragalactic space at speeds approaching the speed of light, where they eventually balloon into massive radio lobes.
Investigators involved in this research were M. J. Hardcastle, P. Alexander, G. G. Pooley and J. Riley; optical/radio superposition by Alan Bridle. (Date of Image: 1991)
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Credit: M. J. Hardcastle, P. Alexander, G. G. Pooley, J. Riley and Alan Bridle; NRAO/AUI/NSF
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