Chandra Release - July 9, 2003

Visual Description: NGC 1068

This is an X-ray and optical image of the active galaxy NGC 1068, which is a spiral galaxy located approximately 50 million light-years away from Earth.  The image showcases shades of dark red, along with blue, green, and purple, creating a colorful representation of the galaxy's features.  The main structure of the galaxy is dominated by its red spiral shape in the center, with a smaller, multicolored and gaseous comet-shaped structure dipping into the middle. This multicolored shape shows gas blowing away in a high-speed wind from the vicinity of the central supermassive black hole. Regions of intense star formation in the inner spiral arms of the galaxy are shown as bright spots in both the optical and X-ray emission. The elongated shape of the gas cloud is thought to be due to the funneling effect of a torus, or doughnut-shaped, cloud of cool gas and dust that surrounds the black hole. The torus, which appears as the elongated white spot in the accompanying 3-color X-ray images, has a mass of about 5 million Suns.