Beams and Shadows from the heart of IC 5063
IC 5063, a lenticular galaxy about 156 million light-years away in the constellation Indus, presents a rare and visually striking interplay of light, dust, and energy. At its core, a supermassive black hole is actively accreting matter and launching narrow jets that punch through the surrounding interstellar medium. In this deep image, faint beams of light and dark “shadow cones” radiate from the nucleus—an optical signature of the energetic heart within.
These beams form as intense radiation escapes through gaps in a dusty torus, a thick, donut-shaped ring of gas and dust encircling the black hole. Dense regions in the torus cast shadows, while light escapes through thinner zones, illuminating the galaxy in dramatic ionization cones. This creates the extended pattern of alternating light and darkness seen stretching tens of thousands of light-years from the core.
A dark, asymmetric dust lane cuts sharply across the nucleus, part of a warped internal structure that absorbs and reddens the light behind it. In addition, faint bluish regions can be seen near the central area—subtle signs of jet-induced star formation, where shocked gas is compressed and collapses into new stars.
The galaxy spans roughly 110,000 light-years with an apparent size of 2.7 × 1.1 arcminutes. Numerous background galaxies add further depth across the field. IC 5063 remains one of the best optical examples of AGN feedback, showcasing how a black hole can shape the evolution of its host galaxy on a grand scale.
Imaged in LRGB on my Planewave CDK 1000 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Image acquisition and processing: Mike Selby