13CO-H13CN-13

The central region of the spiral galaxy NGC 1068, as observed by ALMA overlay the Hubble Space Telescope image, has a fascinating distribution of hydrogen cyanide isotopes (H13CN) shown in yellow, cyanide radicals (CN) shown in red, and carbon monoxide isotopes (13CO) shown in blue. H13CN is concentrated solely in the center of the active galactic nucleus. However, CN not only appears in the center and the large-scale ring-shaped gas structure, but also exhibits a structure extending from the center towards the northeast (upper left) and southwest (lower right), which is believed to be caused by the jet emanating from the supermassive black hole. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, T. Nakajima et al.