by Emil Lenc (CAASTRO, SIfA, University of Sydney)

Celebrating the International Year of Light 2015 we present a stunning multi-wavelength image of Pictor A , the closest powerful Fanaroff-Riley class II radio source. The host galaxy appears as a non-descript point at the centre of the background optical image (grey: ESO DSS-2 R-band image). An X-ray jet ( blue : Chandra X-ray image, A. Wilson, NASA, UMD) is seen emanating from the centre of the galaxy extending across 360,000 light years toward a brilliant hotspot. Two nearly circular lobes, normally reminiscent of a “dying” radio source, are seen at radio wavelengths ( red : 6 cm ATCA radio continuum image by Emil Lenc, published in the Wilson et al. (2011) CABB paper ) but the presence of hot spots (seen at the lobe extremities) suggest that the jet may have been recently re-activated.