2. Arecibo Radio Telescope Puerto Rico World's largest radio telescope
900 tons
305m
Arecibo Radio Telescope Puerto Rico World's largest radio telescope

4. Very Large Array Radio Telescopes New Mexico

6. Chandra X-Ray Observatory orbiting the Earth

12. A quazar releasing a large amount of gas viewed over a period of seven years. The stationary core is the bright red spot to the left of each image.

13. This image shows that the initial radio jet direction is roughly perpendicular to kpc-scale dust distribution. The radio emission is from relativistic streams of high energy particles generated by the radio source in the center of the radio galaxy. Astronomers believe that the jets are fueled by material accreting onto a super-massive black hole. The high energy particles are confined to remarkably well collimated jets, and are shot into extragalactic space at speeds approaching the speed of light, where they eventually balloon into massive radio lobes.

14. This image shows a the optical and radio morphology of the radio galaxy 3C31 (NGC 383), the dominant galaxy of a prominant chain of galaxies. In this image, red colors depict radio emission measured with the VLA, and blue colors depict the optical emission from starlight.

15. This figure shows the distribution of atomic hydrogen at all locations in the sky. All of this hydrogen is in our galaxy. Red indicates directions of high hydrogen density, blue and black show areas with little hydrogen. The figure is centered on the galactic center and galactic longitude increases to the left.

16. Note the bright disk of the planet with a gradual fading toward the edge, called limb darkening. This illustrates a gradual cooling outward in Saturn's atmosphere. The rings are seen in emission outside the disk but then in front of the planet they absorb the radiation from the bright disk behind, appearing as a dark band. In visual light they appear bright everywhere because they reflect the incident sunlight but at radio wavelengths the sunlight is fainter and we see the actual emission from Saturn.

18. Using the orbiting Chandra Observatory's x-ray vision to peer within the bright central regions of NGC 6240 astronomers believe they have uncovered, for the first time, not one but two enormous orbiting black holes, by detecting the characteristic x-ray radiation from the interstellar debris swirling toward them. In the false-color close-up view at right, the x-ray data clearly show the black hole sources (shaded blue) separated by about 3,000 light-years.

19. Why is spiral galaxy Centaurus A in so much turmoil
Why is spiral galaxy Centaurus A in so much turmoil? In low energy radio waves, shown in red, lobes across the thick swath of dust glow brightly. In more energetic radio waves, depicted in green, a bright jet is seen emanating from the galaxy's center. In optical light, shown in white, the stars that compose much of the galaxy are visible.

20. The bright radio structure at the bottom right likely surrounds a black hole at the Galactic center and is known as Sagittarius A*. One origin hypothesis holds that the Radio Arc and the Arches have their geometry because they contain hot plasma flowing along lines of constant magnetic field. Recent images from the Chandra X-ray Observatory appear to show this plasma colliding with a nearby cloud of cold gas.

21. The small core of elliptical galaxy M87 appears to be energizing its whole galactic neighborhood. Recent images from the Very Large Array (VLA) of radio telescopes indicate that huge bubbles of hot gas not only exist but are still being created. These bubbles measure 200,000 light-years across and surround the entire galaxy. The source creating and feeding the bubbles has been traced to jets pointing back to M87's center, where a supermassive black hole is thought to live.

22. The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is one of the best known planetary nebulae in the sky. Its haunting symmetries are seen in the very central region of this stunning false-color picture, processed to reveal the enormous but extremely faint halo of gaseous material, over three light-years across, which surrounds the brighter, familiar planetary nebula. Made with data from the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands, the composite picture shows emission from nitrogen atoms as red and oxygen atoms as green and blue shades.

23. MERCURY PASSING IN FRONT OF THE SUN!!!!