Centaurus A produces a tremendous amount of x-ray radiation: x-ray light from the nucleus alone is twice the radio light of the entire galaxy. The even more energetic gamma rays outshine x-rays in Centaurus A by a factor of 100.
Many x-ray images of galaxies appear as amorphous masses of light. But the Einstein x-ray satellite, from which this image comes, has a high-resolution detector. The image shows the nucleus and jet of Centaurus A distinctly. In addition to the strong x-ray emission from Centaurus AΓÇÖs jet and nucleus, a weak emission is spread over the entire galaxy. This weak emission may be caused by hot material among the stars. There are also faint emission lines on the
