Chandra X-ray & Hubble Optical Images of NGC 3079
Galaxy NGC 3079 contains two "superbubbles" that stretch out on opposite sides of the center of the galaxy: one is 4,900 light years across and the other is only slightly smaller with a diameter of about 3,600 light years.The superbubbles in NGC 3079 are defined by X-ray, optical and radio emission. In these images, X-rays from Chandra and optical data from Hubble are included for a wide field as well as a close-up view (close-up image is 1 arcmin across — roughly 20,000 light years). Chandra observations show that a cosmic particle accelerator in NGC 3079 is producing ultra-energetic particles in the rims of the superbubbles.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/University of Michigan/J-T Li et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI)