FORNAX A

62 million light-years

Two vast 'Dumbo' ears of radio emissions surround the galaxy NGC 1316, forming an object that radio astronomers call Fornax A. The emission, picked up by the Very Large Array radio telescope and shown in orange, is generated as charged particles are blasted from the core of the galaxy and crash into the intergalactic gas. The particles come from near the black hole at the core of NGC 1316, and result from it devouring material from its smaller neighbour.

Credit: Image made in radio waves by J. Uson for NOAO / AUI and in visible light by the Second Palomar Sky Survey.

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