This is a view of the jets of the elliptical galaxy in Cygnus A. Credit: X-ray image: NASA/CXC/SAO; visible light image: NASA/STScI; radio waves image: NSF/NRAO/AUI/VLA.
This is the first time polarimetric observations in the middle infrared region have been made of an active galaxy nucleus with CanariCam instrument on the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS. Cygnus A is an elliptical galaxy at around 600 million light years from the Earth, which has a supermassive black hole at its centre. It is one of the brightest sources of radio waves in the sky and featured in Contact, the famous science fiction novel by Carl Sagan which was made into a film. It has an active galactic nucleus which means that the black hole is “swallowing” material from its surroundings...
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