Busy Galaxy

Centaurus A is one of the busiest galaxies yet discovered, as depicted in this combined optical, X-ray, and radio image. The optical image shows dark lanes of dust across the center of the galaxy, which are probably the result of a collision with a smaller galaxy. These regions are giving birth to thousands of new stars. The X-ray image shows great plumes of gas shooting out from the galaxy's center (blue), propelled by magnetic fields around a supermassive black hole. The jets of gas span tens of thousands of light-years. As the gas rams into the thinner gas between stars, it cools and emits copious amounts of radio waves (orange). [NASA/CXC/CfA/R.Kraft et al.; MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A.Weiss et al.; ESO/WFI]