Chandra Release - June 10, 2015

Visual Description: NGC 5813

The image is an X-ray and optical composite of a group of galaxies called NGC 5813. The dominant colors in this image are dusty purple, with sprinkles of gold and white. X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory are colored purple and an optical image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey is in white and gold. At the center, the galaxy appears with a soft glow, surrounded by concentric swirls of gas that form distinct, rounded cavities or "bubbles." These bubbles are carved out of the surrounding hot gas by successive eruptions from the galaxy's central supermassive black hole, creating a layered, almost ripple-like, circular structure. The overall shape is roughly circular, but with notable undulations - much like a target or growth rings in a tree trunk. The central core is bright and compact, while the surrounding purple haze forms nested, curved arcs. Astronomers used Chandra to show that multiple eruptions from a supermassive black hole over 50 million years have rearranged the cosmic landscape at the center of a group of galaxies.