Chandra Release - November 13, 2008

Visual Description: M84

A composite X-ray, radio and optical image shows an elliptical galaxy named M84, which is colored in blue, red, and yellow hues. The galaxy is located in the center of the image, with stars, tiny galaxies, and some diffuse gas visible around it.  M84 resembles an oddly shaped blue-colored butterfly with a red bulbous jet structure on a diffuse background of yellow-colored material. Hot gas around M84 detected by the Chandra X-ray Observatory data is blue with radio data from the Very Large Array in red. A background image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey is shown in yellow-white.  A number of bubbles are visible in the hot gas, outlined with blue X-ray emission. These bubbles were blown by relativistic particles generated by the central supermassive black hole in M84. These particles travel outwards in the form of a two-sided jet. Because smaller bubbles are found inside large bubbles, the impression given by the image is that of Russian dolls, where smaller dolls can be found inside large ones. These nested bubbles provide clear evidence for repeated outbursts from the central black hole.