International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Illustration of jet plasma surface-brightness
The paler green region represents low surface-brightness jet plasma filling the jet-driven bubble, which drives a shock into the surrounding gas and causes ionized emission (dark red). Jet plasma also percolates radially through channels in the clumpy circumnuclear disk (blue), driving shocks into neutral gas and causing molecular emission. The pale blue circles represent clouds of neutral gas. The line of sight is indicated by the dashed line; the disk is inclined such that the Western lobe is partially obscured by the disk, whereas the Eastern lobe is completely obscured by the disk.
