This black-and-white radio image offers a beautiful view of Cygnus AΓÇÖs structure. The point in the center, which represents the galaxyΓÇÖs radio-emitting nucleus, is surrounded by two huge lobes. Although the nucleus is small compared with the lobes, it likely powers the entire radio source. The thin jet, roughly 150,000 light years long, extending from the right side of the nucleus to one of the lobes probably acts as a kind of ΓÇ£fuel line.ΓÇ¥ After leaving the jet, material slams into the intercluster medium, the thin gas found among galaxies in a cluster. The effect is not unlike a car smashing into a wall. The collision is a ΓÇ£hotspotΓÇ¥ at the edge of the lobes. The wreckage from past collisions (cooling gas) fills the radio lobes.
