Sky Survey Provides New Radio View of Universe: Graphics

This false color image shows a small portion of the radio sky as seen by the VLA in the VLSS. White regions indicate radio-bright emitting galaxies, while deep red/black indicate regions of little or no radio emission. All of the "spots" in the image are radio-bright galaxies. The extended object in the lower right is a nearby radio galaxy. Its elongated shape results from jets of highly relativistic (moving at nearly the speed of light) material being shot in opposing directions from the environment of a supermassive black hole located near the center of the source. (The supermassive black hole and its environment are not visible in this image.) The typical radio-bright galaxy in this image is only about half-way across the observable Universe, but astronomers are trying to determine if there might be an extremely distant one among the more typical ones.

A "rogues' gallery" of radio galaxy types seen in the VLSS. White regions indicate radio-bright emitting regions in the galaxies, while deep red/black indicate regions of little or no radio emission. In all cases, the radio galaxies are thought to shine because of jets of highly relativistic material being shot from the environment of a supermassive black hole in the center of the radio galaxy. The diversity of shapes probably reflects the environment of the radio galaxy itself as well as the history of the supermassive black hole and how much material has fallen into it.