Nuclear region of the Circinus galaxy. The right image shows the inner 1,000 light-years of the Circinus Galaxy. Blinding light and gaseous material are ejected by the active nucleus (located at the black box). They escape only along a conical region towards the northwest (upper right part of the image), leading to the white V-shaped structure in this image. Along other directions, the nuclear region is hidden by dense gas and dust. This obscuring dust has now been investigated with unprecedented detail with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. The false-color model image on the left shows the dust emission and corresponds to the region marked by the black box in the right image. The emission comes from a relatively thin, disk-like structure (white) as well as dust elongated perpendicular to it. The disk is also seen by water emission (red-green-blue line). The dust emission is more absorbed towards the southeast (bottom left) than the northwest (top right), illustrated by the change from violet to green colors.
Konrad Tristram; Right: NASA HST