Interacting galaxies 3C 321. Composite image of the two 3C 321 galaxies (pink,lower left) and a radio jet (blue) emerging towards upper right from the larger galaxy (bottom left) and being deflected as it hits the smaller galaxy. This jet of high-energy particles is from a supermassive black hole at the centre of the larger galaxy. The image data is from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (X-ray,purple),the Hubble Space Telescope (visible,orange; ultraviolet,red) and the Very Large Array and MERLIN (radio,blue). 3C 321 is 1. 25 billion light years from Earth,in the constellation Serpens Caput. For the separate images of 3C 321,from a study carried out in 2007,see images R826/124 to R826/130 |