ELLIPTICAL GALAXY NGC 4261                        STSCI PR-92-27A
Wide Field/Planetary Camera vs
 National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Left:- Ground Based Composite Visual/Radio View: The giant elliptical
galaxy NGC 4261 is one of the twelve brightest galaxies in the Virgo
cluster, located 45 million light-years away.  Photographed in visible
light (white) the galaxy appears as a fuzzy disk of hundreds of
billions of stars.  A radio image (orange) shows a pair of opposed jets
emanating from the nucleus and spanning a distance of 88,000
light-years.

Right:- HST Image of NGC 4261: A giant disk of cold gas and dust fuels
a possible black hole at the core of the galaxy.  Estimated to be 300
light-years across, the disk is tipped enough (about 60 degrees) to
provide astronomers with a clear view of the bright hub, which
presumably harbors the black hole.  The dark, dusty disk represents a
cold outer region which extends inwards to an ultra-hot accretion disk
with a few hundred million miles from the suspected black hole.  This
disk feeds matter into the black hole, where gravity compresses and
heats the material.  Hot gas rushes from the vicinity of the black
hole's creating the radio jets.  The jets are aligned perpendicular to
the disk, like an axel through a wheel.  This provides strong
circumstantial evidence for the existence of black hole "central
engine" in NGC 4261.