HEAPOW logo


XMM-Newton galaxy of gamma-ray loud agn
Credit: Luigi Foschini (INAF/IASF-Bologna, Italy) et al. and ESA


Rogues Gallery of Loudmouths

Active galaxies are some of the strangest objects in the Universe. They harbor supermassive black holes in their nuclei, objects which swallow large amounts of galactic material and which weirdly spew out matter and energy for enormous distances into space. Some are especially powerful, and generate extremely energetic gamma radiation. The montage above is a "rogues gallery" of X-ray images (from the XMM-Newton observatory) and contours of radio emission for a number of active galaxies which are particularly bright in gamma-rays. Observations like these which span a large range in electromagnetic energy are crucial for understanding the mechanisms behind these "loudmouth" galaxies.


< HEA DictionaryArchiveSearch HEAPOWOther LanguagesHEAPOW on FacebookDownload all ImagesEducationHEAD >



Each week the HEASARC brings you new, exciting and beautiful images from X-ray and Gamma ray astronomy. Check back each week and be sure to check out the HEAPOW archive!


Page Author: Dr. Michael F. Corcoran
Last modified April 2, 2006