Sequence of Chandra Images of Galactic Center & Sgr A*
QuickTime

• High Res (18.6 MB)
• Low Res (6.4 MB)

MPEG

• High Res (4.5 MB)
• Low Res (4.5 MB)

This sequence begins with a 400 by 900 light-year mosaic of several Chandra images of the central region of our Galaxy that reveals hundreds of white dwarf stars, neutron stars, and black holes bathed in an incandescent fog of multimillion-degree gas. The mosaic then zooms into a large region around the supermassive black hole at our Galaxy's center, a.k.a. Sagittarius A* or Sgr A*. Marked in this field around Sgr A* are two newly discovered large lobes of multimillion-degree gas that extend for dozens of light years on either side of the black hole. The final Chandra image in this sequence is a close-up of the location of the supermassive black hole Sgr A* and an X-ray jet. This suspected jet is 1.5 light years in length and is due to high-energy particles ejected from the vicinity of the black hole.
[Runtime: 0:22]
Credit:
Galactic Center (Survey): NASA/UMass/D.Wang et al.
Sgr A* (3-color & close-up): NASA/CXC/MIT/F.K.Baganoff et al.

Black Hole Animation
QuickTime

• High Res (10.1 MB)
• Low Res (3.4 MB)

MPEG

• High Res (4.3 MB)
• Low Res (4.3 MB)

This sequence begins with a 600,000-second exposure of Sgr A* made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Next, it zooms into the precise location of the central supermassive hole, and then dissolves into an artist's rendition of the system. This illustrates how high-energy particles and X-ray flares are produced when matter falls onto the accretion disk around a supermassive black hole.
[Run time = 0:22 sec]
(Animation: NASA/SAO/CXC/D.Berry )