ExploraTour - Looking at the World in a Different Light


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NASA / Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Centaurus A in radio waves

Centaurus A in x rays

Why does it look like this?

This is a picture of a galaxy in visible light. A galaxy is a large number of stars, some like our sun, some bigger, some smaller and all moving together through space.

This galaxy is called Centaurus A. Scientists were surprised when they looked at Centaurus A in other kinds of light. What they saw is a large jet of gas that is squirting out the top and bottom of the galaxy. The particles making up the jet give off some light beyond red and some light beyond violet. We can see the jet in these other types of light but it cannot be seen in visible light. If scientists had not looked at light beyond the range of our vision, we would never know these types of jets existed. Click on the buttons to see how Centaurus A looks in other types of light.


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